Could it be - the messiah?

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

From the beginning of the time Jesus chose to start his public teaching and healing, he established that he was the expected messiah.  He spoke of his father as if he had been in his presence talking to him.  He called himself by a title, the Son of Man, that clearly identified him as the one whom the Jews were expecting to lead them into a new earthly empire (as opposed to the Roman Empire and the Greek empire before that).  But what the people remembered most clearly about his teachings, and the reason so many went to the hills to hear him speak, was the way Jesus distinguished himself from the way the Law was taught and practiced.  To the everyday people, Jesus stood apart from the rabbis and the religious sects that had grown up in Judaism.

Matthew (5.17-48) records the way Jesus presented himself to the everyday people with six verse viewpoints that immediately followed the μακαριοι sayings.  These viewpoints were easy to remember because they resembled the rabbis's teachings.  Given the nuances that can be seen in some of the language used, it would appear that Jesus was using a well known form but with great irony so that the people could see how simple and sensible the Law really was.  The people admired Jesus at first because he was refreshingly so different in his view of how the Old Testament was to be practiced.  As time went on, many decided that he was indeed the messiah.  And as more time passed, people understood that Jesus was also saying he was the Almighty's son.  But, this last part wasn't so distinguishable as Jesus spoke this one afternoon on the side of a hill to people who had gathered to see him.

Jesus began with what makes one favored in his father's sight, then ventured into the idea that merely following rules wasn't the Law's intent.  The Law's intent was to show people how they should think about life's circumstances.  It was to show them where their hearts should be centered so that the decency of their actions could be seen.  The sayings themselves were not designed to be law replacements but were explanations using a style that rabbis were in the habit of using.  The explanations showed the spirit of the Law succinctly and plainly.

Jesus was very clear about his position and purpose concerning the Law and the Prophets.

μη νομισητε οτι ηλθον καταλυσαι τον νομον η τους προφητας 

                  ουκ ηλθον καταλυσαι αλλα πληρωσαι

(Don't think that I have come to make the Law and the Prophets fall into disuse.

                           I have not come to make them fall into disuse, rather to make them have                             fuller meaning.)

εως αν παρελθη ο ουρανος και η γη ιωτα εν η μια κεραια 
  ου μη παρελθη απο του νομου εως αν παντα γενηται
(Even if earth and sky vanish, not one of the Law's smallest nuances of meaning
                             will vanish until it has all happened.)

Of course, Jesus knew his purpose as messiah was to usher in the beginning of a new age, ending the age of the Old Covenant, so he felt free to give the Law proper tribute and prepare them for the age of the messiah.  With great ease he used the familiar form of instruction the rabbis used to organize their teachings.  He chose five points of the Law to give fuller meaning to.  He started with quoting them, then clearly associating them with the condition of one's heart while acting on the point.

Jesus spoke:

You have heard it was said to our ancestors, "Don't murder.  If you do, you're accountable for your sentence."  I'm telling you if you make another person mad at you, you're accountable for a sentence.  If you call someone a libelous term, you're accountable to the high court.  And if you tell someone they don't have the mental capacity to deal with a situation, you're accountable to the Valley of Hinnom's fire of atrocity." (Matthew 5.21,22)

Six times Jesus quoted the Law.  Six times he told of a person's heart condition so that the people could see the underlying sense of the Law rather than the drudgery of doing what it said.

ηκουσατε οτι ερρεθη… εγω δε λεγω υμιν 
(You have heard it was said... I'm telling you.)

1) Verse 21 - You have heard it was said to our ancestors... (Exodus 20.13)
    Verse 22 - I'm telling you that...
2) Verse 27 - You have heard it was said... (Exodus 20.14)

    Verse 28 - I'm telling you that...
3) Verse 31 - It was said... (Deuteronomy 24.1)
    Verse 32 - I'm telling you that...
4) Verse 33 - You have heard it was said to our ancestors... (Numbers 30.2)
    Verse 34 - I'm telling you...
5) Verse 38 - You have heard it was said... (Exodus 21.24, Leviticus 24.20,
                  Deuteronomy 19.21)
    Verse 38 - I'm telling you...
6) Verse 43 - You have heard it was said... (Leviticus 19.18)
    Verse 44 - I'm telling you...

Jesus gave the everyday people a really clear sign that he was not a part of the business-as-usual crowd of the power establishment.  His manner of "scripture" presentation was accompanied with such a manner of ease it seemed irreverent.  The rabbis had created a "holy" aura surrounding the handling of scripture.  The two presentation styles were so different the people had to have been curious to see how well this new teacher would hold his own.  Jesus had no schooling in the rabbinic tradition to know the Law so well.  Yet he did.  He handled the verses with such facility and poignant application, it was as if he had been alive when it was written.  As the people listened on this afternoon, I'm sure that several thoughts crossed their minds, "How could this young man teach as if he had been a rabbi all his life.  How did he know what the intent of the Law was so well?  Am I a sucker to think he is the messiah?"

Another stylistic comparison jumped out at the people.  There was a certain style the rabbis had of explaining the Talmud.  I as a gentile reader haven't always had the appreciation that Jews have had for the Talmud.  The Talmud included the Old Testament verses, but also included the oral traditions that had grown up around the Old Testament.  These oral traditions, too, had been written down, so one could refer to the written text of the Old Testament, the explanation of the current rabbis, and the written record of oral traditions of rabbis from years before.  This latter had a particular form.  Many times it would begin with "You have heard it said..." with an explanation to follow.  It was customary for former rabbis to be quoted.  But if not, a set of footnotes followed to show how the rabbis had arrived at the conclusions of their explanations over the years.  An example of such a style is linked here.  There are labels for the different sections, but it is the style that is important, not the names of the various sections.

The people noticed the difference between this careful, meticulous, rabbinic style and Jesus's non-meticulous, off-the-cuff style.  Jesus taught in the hills and valleys, in places with no walls and roofs not mostly in the synagogues.  On the occasions Jesus did teach in town synagogues, it was in various places as a guest speaker, not in a specific place so that he could build a reputation there.  Jesus taught with no preparation for his comments (How did he do that?) rather than poring over a verse to see what had been written about it for years and years.  Jesus referred to his own thinking, not the thinking of other current or past rabbis.  The people loved Jesus for this.  They came to hear him because his reputation had preceded him.  Even people from Jerusalem had heard from northern Galilean Jews that the messiah had come, so they too were drifting up to see for themselves.

In the verses here there are two tasty morsels - one at the beginning, one at the end.  Jesus began two of the six explanations with,  ηκουσατε οτι ερρεθη τοις αρχαιοις (You have heard it said to our ancestors). The word for ancestors,  αρχαιοις, was a pun.  Other Greek documents used the word to refer to something that was worn out and ready for something new.  Assuming that people understood the pun, they knew the primary meaning of "ancestors," but they also understood that Jesus was saying, "You have heard this worn out oral tradition...."  You have to love Jesus for being so plain spoken and subtly trying to ready the people for the new age.  Even if the pun was not a part of the phrasing in the Aramaic that Jesus spoke, Jesus's later followers used the Greek language to apply the pun.

In addition, Jesus had begun this portion of his sayings with people's behavior.  But, his teaching ended with a note about the "father's" behavior.  The use of the term "father" was Jesus's trademark difference from the teaching of the rabbis about the Almighty of the Talmud.  Who would dare to refer to God so flippantly?  Of course, Jesus didn't make it flippant, those steeped in oral tradition made it flippant.  Jesus used "father" to show that God was still very present in his children's lives, the everyday people's lives, whose taste of God came from traditions of the Talmud, which was often viewed as oppressive and distant.  They needed to hear from the messiah, if so he was, that God was not only the God of the ancestors but a God who was familiar with them too.

So Jesus ends with a note about their father:

εσεσθη ουν υμεις τελειοι ως ο πατηρ υμων ο ουρανιος τελειος εστιν

(So have intergrity of your father in heaven.)

This last word of these six explanations about people's behavior derived from the principle of verse 45, God's behavior, and God's behavior was highlighted with the word "integrity."  God's integrity was unmistakable because he sent his rain on good and evil people alike, and allowed his sun to rise on decent and indecent people alike.  The part with a pun was the word for integrity, τελειος.  It also meant maturity .  It's as if Jesus was also saying that he just outlined for everyone what adults do, not children.  They should just behave decently.  That's how adults act in a mature world.  Rules were made to help people mature.  When they grow up, then they act from the knowledge of the right thing to do.

People were hoping for a messiah.  People were ready for a messiah.  Their faith was worn out.  Jesus was the messiah, bringing his people to a new age.  They would live together in harmony and with integrity.  They would act from good hearts and their father would smile on them favorably.  The first followers felt relieved that Jesus, the messiah had finally come.  I am sure they would have raised their voices to sing the following song with all of us whose hearts need a shock treatment because our faith is worn out.

Flocking to the valley

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Jesus was never one to mince words.  He told his message in a most straightforward manner, which was one of the reasons he was so popular to those outside of the power structure.  The everyday person loved hearing their friends tell of the time that they heard Jesus teach about the kind of people God favored, or the time they saw Jesus healing bonafide lepers and crippled people, or the time they sat in the crowd while Jesus went head to head with the influential people.

Of all the gospels, Luke seems to have wanted to highlight the teachings that Jesus gave that raised the importance of the everyday person.  Perhaps because Luke was had medical training and tended to hurting people, he also had a heart for those whose spirits were hurt.  The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, unique to Luke, is a grand example of Luke's sentiments for the hurting.  It also appears that Mary's stories were a source for Luke because of the genealogy at the beginning of the book and the fact that he mentions Mary double the number of times of the other gospels.  If so, this might have also contributed to the "feeling" language of the stories found in Luke favoring the average person and criticizing the prestigious and influential groups.

With this in mind, Luke gives another take on the μακαριοι sayings found at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5.  If Luke is recording the same occasion that Matthew records, the teachings in Luke are more skeletal in nature, briefer, so his source(s) had retained the information somewhat differently.  But, there is nothing to preclude Jesus from using his sayings and comparisons multiple times on many hillsides around Galilee and Judea.  So, truly these words might not have been a different memory of the same occasion, but a different occasion altogether.

Jesus began speaking in similar fashion to the event Matthew recorded.  Jesus had come from a hilltop to a lower level place or to one of the valleys among the hills that range across the area (Luke 6.17-26).  Again he had eight sayings.  μακαριοι introduced his first four.

How favored are the poor.  The realm of God is for you.
How favored are the ones who are hungry now.  You will be full.
How favored are the ones crying now.  You will be laughing.
How favored you are when people hate, ostracize, and brand you as a bad influence because of the  Son of Man.  Be crazy happy because you have a great reward in heaven.  Your ancestors treated  their prophets the same exact way.

The source for Luke after these first four sayings is very different from what Matthew recorded.  It's also the point where Jesus (perhaps Mary as Luke's source) shows a bit of a sting toward those in the power structure of Judea.  Jesus used πλην (in addition) before starting the next four sayings.  That would be the equivalent of someone saying something, then adding "And get this... " to show the importance of what is going to be added to what was just said.  The word following πλην is ουαι, the beginning word for the next four sayings.  This word is the opposite of μακαριοι.  The first of the ουαι sayings shows the structure and semantics of this group of four.

πλην ουαι υμιν τοις πλουσιοις οτι απεχετε την παρακλησιν υμων.

(And get this.  It won't go well for you who are rich.  You are receiving your plush life now.)

The next four sayings are the mirror opposites of the first four sayings.  Another way to put it is that Jesus gave one set of conditions for God's favor and a second set of conditions for his disfavor.  The two sayings were in direct juxtapostion.  I don't know that Jesus spoke one group of sayings and then a second group of sayings as it is recorded.  It's possible that the way it was remembered was merely an organizing method for oral transmission.  Ancient literature elsewhere in the world, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, had an organizational structure for transmission such as rhyme, repetition of nominative participles, and a melodic number of syllables (number of feet in a line).  Ancient Hebrew poetry also used literary features such as parallelism and chiasm for easy remembrance. So, people were used to hearing orally transmitted material through the use of particular organizational patterns.  Below is a little different organizational structure for the modern reader in order to show the offsetting meanings of the two types of sayings.  A modern translation might use this method to report the sayings for the semantic effect they might have had on the listeners that day in valley.

How favored are the poor.  The realm of God is for you.

It won't go well for you who are rich.  You are receiving your plush life now.

How favored are the ones who are hungry now.  You will be full.

It won't go well for you who are full.  You will be hungry.

How favored are the ones crying now.  You will be laughing.

It won't go well for you who are laughing.  You will be grieving and crying.

How favored you are when people hate, ostracize, and brand you as a bad influence because of the  Son of Man.  Be crazy happy because you have a great reward in heaven.  Your ancestors treated  their prophets the same exact way.

It won't go well for you when everyone accepts you everywhere.  Your ancestors treated their false  prophets the same exact way.

There's a tasty morsel in setting up the sayings.  Before Jesus opened his mouth, he surveyed all the people who had gathered in the valley. He noticed there were two groups of people.  When I was a young adult and reading less critically, I didn't notice at all the two groups of people, and I thought Jesus usually drew "crowds" from local villages which were small, hardly a crowd by modern standards.  But, I'm not so sure these days.  People had been hearing about Jesus, so by the time he decided to select his twelve closest followers, thousands of people had decided to come to the hills where Jesus taught in order to sit and listen to him.  And one can bet that since healings were happening there in the hills, people were showing up for that too.

One group of people were his followers.  Specifically, οχλος πολυς μαθητων αυτου (a tremendous number of his followers) had gathered to hear more about him.  μαθητων was used for the word followers.  It was used in Greece to speak of students and derived from the verb to study.  So what did go through Jesus's mind, really, when he surveyed the crowd and saw a tremendous number of μαθητων.  Students? Probably not.  Jesus knew that people came to hear him speak because he called himself the Son of Man, one of the identifications Jews had given to the Messiah.  Both the popular book of Enoch, the writing called Second Esdras, and the Old Testament book of Daniel speak of this identification.  People came to check out the teachings of the messiah.  Thousands of people were flocking to the hills because they were attracted by the audacity of Jesus to claim this in the first place and by his message of contemporaneous application of God's realm to people of this time and place, not something spoken long ago and laboriously applied to each successive generation like the rabbis had done for centuries.

The Dierks Bentley song below makes me feel like I think Jesus's followers felt.  They were just holding on.  Jesus let them know who they were holding on to and what they were holding on for.

The second group Jesus noticed were πληθος πολυ του λαου (a tremendous number of people) from various places - Judea, its capital, Jerusalem, and the Roman cities of Tyre and Sidon.  Basically, they were people from a hundred miles or more away in a time when people walked everywhere.  They seemed to be easy to spot.  Perhaps they were the rich, educated, or haughty types, not from the same class of people as the ones who were listening to Jesus as learners.  Perhaps, they were wearing regional garb, and so were distinct in their dress or nationality.  

For whatever reasons, Jesus noticed two groups of people - his and not his.  And certainly, this division in his mind surfaced in his speech.  He began by rewarding his μαθητων (followers) with μακαριοι (how favored) sayings.  Then he turned his attention to the second group he saw, λαου (the people) from other regions, with ουαι sayings.

I find myself split-minded about which group I would have been in had I lived during that day.  I probably would have gone out to hear this Son of Man teach about God's realm.  I can see myself listening intently and soaking up what Jesus was telling me, that I was favored by God.  Unfortunately, I can see myself on the fringe, sizing up Jesus's teaching to see if it was worthy of the messiah.  In that case, I hear Jesus tell me that it won't go well for me.

The speech in Luke helps me see the two sides of myself.  It keeps me honest.  It tells me where I stand.

A favored life

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Some of the best known and most loved of Jesus's words are found on the occasion of  an afternoon on a hillside.  People refer to it as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.1-12).

People had begun hearing about this man from Nazareth not long before this day.  They were saying he was unusual, that he spoke of God in a whole new way, that he seemed to have the knowledge of the rabbis, and that he called himself the Son of Man.  They wanted to hear more from him.  How did he know so much about God and Heaven?  So, when they heard that Jesus was in the hills close to their villages, they went to see and hear for themselves.

Jesus opened the afternoon session that day with words of encouragement to the people who had come to listen to him.  I'm sure he was watching the men and women as they gathered and thought of their conditions and their places in life.  The story doesn't record the nature of the people there, but judging from his words the number of prestigious people there must have been sparse.  He noticed some who looked haggard and hungry.  He saw some who appeared sad and oppressed, whose slogan for life was probably "Life is long."  He noticed people who were quiet and reserved, who didn't mingle with the others around them.  They had all come to him in this setting outside their villages to hear him speak of his father and of how to serve him.  They had all heard the rabbis speak of this.  But Jesus offered something so different from the norm.

So, he began to speak that afternoon.  He thought it best to speak succinctly.  These people needed to remember what he said, so he chose a short, pithy structure in which to couch his words.  They would remember this, and it would be powerfully meaningful - satisfying and encouraging.  Their lives were hard, but they had hearts for God.  Jesus wanted to commend them for that and give them the impetus to continue living for God.

He spoke, "μακαριοι οι πτωχοι τω πνευματι οτι αυτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων."

He didn't speak mysterious words, irrelevant words.  He spoke of his father's realm and the kind of people that inhabited it.  His first word was μακαριοι.  They had heard that word before by both Jews and Greeks.  It marked someone who was smiled upon by the gods (for Greeks) or someone who had found favor in God's eyes (for Jews).  They knew from his first sentence how encouraging Jesus's words were going to be. His first words were for the dispirited among them.  How favored are people poor in spirit. Heaven's realm is made up of them.

Jesus wanted to speak next to those in the crowd who were sad, perhaps lonely, to those who hadn't had much work out very well for them in life .  He spoke again beginning with μακαριοι.  How favored are people who grieve.  They will have someone standing beside them.  These people had hearts for God.  They had to know that God appreciated them and would have his presence in their most trying moments.

Six more times Jesus addressed the types of people who were in the crowd to let them know that they were the types of people that his father smiled upon.  Each time he began with μακαριοι.  Each time he named a group of people finding favor and included an extra note about them.

How favored are unassuming people.  They will receive the promised land.
How favored are people who hunger and thirst for decent living.  They will be satisfied.
How favored are people who show mercy.  They will be shown mercy.
How favored are people with genuine hearts.  They will see God.
How favored are people who work for peace. They will be called God's children.
How favored are people who get persecuted for living decently. Heaven's realm is made up of them.

The villagers on the hillside that day sat enamored with Jesus's words.  He spoke to their hearts, their sense of goodness, their ability to endure during trying times.  He opened with a note about God smiling on their lives.  They had to have felt encouraged.  Jesus went on that afternoon to talk about other matters.  But, what a grand opening to capture their wonder and awe of his father's true nature.

There is a tasty morsel in these μακαριοι sayings.  In his third statement (5:5), he spoke of a time that had been promised to the Jews, a time when the Messiah would arrive.  Hidden in these sayings was something that people in that culture would not have missed.  Gentile Christians miss it today for two reasons.  First, the idea of a promised Messiah doesn't hold the same sway as it did to Jewish people. Gentiles have never been promised that a Messiah would come, so it is hard to feel excited as the Jews felt then, that a long-promised message was coming true in their lifetimes.  Second, people today don't know that the phrase used in this portion of the saying was an established phrase, a stock phrase, for another promise.  This second idea is worth another word or two.

μακαριοι οι πραεις οτι αυτοι κληρονομησουσιν την γην.  (How favored are unassuming people.  They will receive the promised land.)  

The last two words of this saying, την γην, are most often thought of as the Earth.  In this case, however, there is a specialized meaning for these two words.  Since the Jews established residence in Palestine, the reference to the southern kingdom in particular was called "the land " (that had been promised to them).  Psalms 37:9, 11 are clear examples of this.  Even 700 years later, the same idea is  mentioned in the Jewish story of Tobit (4:12).  The same idea is seen again in Isaiah 61:7, a contemporary period with Tobit.  Shortly after this time the idea changed slightly.  By the time of the Maccabees, a little less than two hundred years before Jesus, the idea of the Messiah was that he would come to lead the Jews in their final triumph over the world and give them "the land," a figurative kingdom or realm.  "The land" was formulaic and figurative, not associated with the physical land of Israel any longer, yet still referred to as "the land."

So, it seems that Jesus was using the figurative expression of "the land" promised by the Messiah in two nuanced ways.  He primarily was saying that because he himself was speaking of "the land's" inhabitants, he was the messiah that would lead them there.  Secondarily, Jesus was equating the figurative promised land to his first and last sayings that speak of the realm of God being made up of two other groups of unassuming people, the dispirited and persecuted.

It was also true that Jesus was quoting Psalms 37:11, a passage that was written to comfort the Jews of old during a time of disillusionment.  Quoting the Old Testament as the basis for a current teaching was something the rabbis did regularly.  Some called Jesus a rabbi although he had no training as such.   Yet, he knew and could apply the Old Testament's words to his own time so easily - something the messiah would be able to do.

If I look very hard at these 8 sayings, I see Jesus actively working to reassure the everyday person listening to him that day.  He wanted them to know and feel that there was hope because God smiles upon all the things they were doing like living decently, making peace, showing kindness to people who had suffered loss, and working hard to fill their emptiness both physical and spiritual.  What a comfort to know this about God from the one promised to lead them out of their oppression at the hands of the Romans and their other surrounding pagan neighbors like the Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians.

I have fit into all of the categories Jesus mentioned in his μακαριοι [makareoy] (how favored you are) sayings at different times in my life.  I am in that crowd of followers listening on the hillside even though I live in another time and place.  I hear his leadership in his words.  I hear his voice reaching out to my condition and assuring me that my attempts to do the right things in life lead to God's promised realm.  I believe him when he says that someone stands beside me in my grief and loss.  I am more than relieved to hear that I will see God if I have a genuine heart.  I hear Jesus telling me how favored I am.

Campfire chat

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

In his last encounter with the apostles in John 21, Jesus appeared to 7 of his 12 for a final conversation, especially with Simon, the Rock.  He impressed them by providing one last miracle.  He told them where to catch fish, then sat with them around a campfire for a breakfast that included the fish they caught.  But, he had one more item on his agenda, a very personal one for Simon.

Jesus knew Simon would not see him again as a living human (except by way of vision),  so he wanted to put in a last word to shake him from any indifference to, any doubt of, or any illusions about Jesus as authentically God's son, the last three years as real, and the events from those years as strong memories, not figments of his imagination.  Jesus wanted him to know that new followers would be looking to him for guidance, so Simon had to be certain.

Of course, Simon figured this out, but not until after this encounter.  Jesus punned with him about the exact nature of their relationship and about the nature of his role from this point forward.  He used the idea of sheep and shepherds with Simon to get him to understand how people would view him in the coming age.  Jesus had given him a name that had stuck - the Rock.  Everybody was calling him that.  Now, Jesus would give him a role, not a status necessarily, but a role.

So, Jesus asked Simon, "Do you care about me?"  Simon answered, "Of course, Lord, you know that we're friends."  Jesus responds to Simon's answer with, "βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου" (provide food for my little lambs).  

If I had been Simon, I would have wondered about about what Jesus was up to by asking about caring about him, but this second part would have been a mystery.  Who are the little lambs?  Is Jesus asking for him to perform a miracle of food for little children?  One one occasion Jesus had talked about sheep not in his fold.  Were those the sheep he meant (John 10.16)?  Who were these little lambs, and what kind of food was Jesus expecting?
  
He didn't know he would very soon stand with 120 others to choose a replacement for Judas, someone who also was a witness to the resurrection (Acts 1).  He also didn't realize that right around the corner, the spirit of God would fall on him and the other 11 apostles and that he would stand in front of a crowd and tell them that the Messiah had come, that he had been crucified on their watch, and that it wasn't too late to believe that he had died, risen, and ascended to Heaven to be with God.  God provided a very large crowd to hear Simon's bold proclamation (Acts 2).  Surely events were happening in a way that he could remember the words of Jesus encouraging him to provide food for this young group of believers (Jesus's little lambs).  The description in Acts 5.17-42 shows Simon providing Jesus's little lambs with great examples of healing and standing up for the Messiah in the face of persecution.  That was the greenest pasture they could have eaten from.

On that occasion of breakfast in John 21, Jesus had asked Simon a second time if Simon cared about him.  Simon had answered the same way, "Sure, Lord, you know that we're friends."  But Jesus's response was not the same this second time.  Jesus had responded with, "ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου" (protect my sheep and take them to good pastures).  The Greek word ποίμαινε means (you) shepherd (a verb).  And although there is the verb form to shepherd in English, people don't use it because no one really shepherds anymore.  What did Jesus mean?  Simon understood the words perfectly clearly.  He understood all the word entailed and noticed Jesus had separated the idea of feeding from the word for to shepherd.  The main two remaining duties left for a shepherd, as everyone knew at that time, was to constantly move  sheep around, taking them to pastures where they could have enough to eat and to keep a watchful eye for predators, warding them away.

Jesus also switched  the word after his second question from ἀρνία (little lambs) to πρόβατά (sheep).  The obvious difference was the maturity of the lambs.  Jesus knew that his followers would need initial nurturing as lambs do, but that they would mature and need guidance.  Sure enough, Simon was asked to do some of this shepherding.  God chose him to introduce the idea to the Jewish followers that the Messiah's message was for Gentiles as well as Jews by giving him a vision of animals, clean and unclean.  Simon was faithful to the vision's meaning by baptizing and welcoming Cornelius, the first Gentile convert (Acts 10).  A little later, Simon also presided over the council of Jerusalem when conflict arose between Jewish and Gentile churches (Acts 15).

Simon knew Jesus had a point to make when Jesus asked him a third time, "Are we friends?"  The tone of the question had changed.  So had the statement after the question.  When Simon assured Jesus that they were friends, Jesus told him, "βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου" (provide food for my sheep).  What was Jesus trying to tell him?  His request had now changed from "provide food for lambs" to "protect my sheep and take them to good pasture" back to "provide food" but this time for "my sheep."

At the time, Simon may not have known the point Jesus was making, but as time passed, Simon's life showed that he understood Jesus's meaning.  After many years, Simon wrote a letter to mature Christians (Jesus's sheep).  He gave them lasting food since he put his thoughts to words, words of wisdom lasting into perpetuity.  His letter (1st Peter) offered encouragement and advice (a pasture full of food) to women, slaves, men, young men, and elders on how to live a good life as travelers through this temporary life.

A really tasty morsel is found at the very end of this encounter.  Jesus tells Simon, "when you are old, someone else will take you where you don't want to go... and they will stretch out your hands."  John followed that statement with the comment that Jesus was foretelling the manner in which Peter would die.  In a Christian writing of the 2nd century, The Acts of Peter, Simon disguised himself and was on his way out of Rome in order to avoid a direct threat on his life by Agrippa.  On the road out, Simon passed Jesus, who was walking into Rome.  Simon recognized Jesus as they passed each other and asked Jesus where he was going.  Jesus told him that he was going into Rome to be crucified.  Peter asked, "Crucified a second time?"  Jesus answered, "Yes, again,"  then ascended into heaven.  Simon realized Jesus was asking him to return and be crucified.

From the time of Jesus's ascension after his resurrection until his own crucifixion in Rome, Simon proved what a rock he was, providing food for the early followers, protecting and guiding those followers as Gentiles began accepting the message of Jesus, and providing food through teaching and example in Jerusalem and Rome for followers who had to persevere through Roman persecution of the faith.  Simon inspires all of us to do what Jesus told him to do as Jesus ended his encounter with Simon that day on the lakeside, "ἀκολούθει μοι."  It means "Follow me!"

You know we're friends

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

The story comes from John 21.  The voice on the bank of the lake came loud and clear to the ears of 7 men who were busy positioning nets, tugging at them to see if enough fish had filled them, getting a second net ready to replace the first one when it was pulled, and otherwise watching the water and communicating what needed to happen with casting for fish.

John recognized the voice which he had heard slightly above all the men's boisterous and noisy small talk and motion.  He yelled to Simon, the Rock, "It's the Lord."

Simon was so eager to see the Lord.  He hurriedly put on his clothes since he was working in his shorts, dove into the lake, and swam to the shore.  The two talked while they fixed breakfast, waiting for the other 6 to join them, provide the fish, and enjoy a meal together.  It was during the after-meal chatting that Jesus shot a question to Simon. "σιμων ιωαννων αγαπας με πλεον τουτων," (Do you care about me more than all of this?).  Jesus waved his arm around their surroundings to indicate the fish in his plate, the boat with all its gear, and the other men fishing with him."

Simon's response is interesting.  I am thinking that Simon was wondering why Jesus wanted to be so formal.  Jesus had said, "Simon, son of John" (like in our culture when someone calls you by your first and last name).  And the question?  What kind of question was that?  Couldn't Jesus see from 3 years together that he cared?  So he answered quickly, ναι κυριε συ οιδας οτι φιλω σε" (Yes, Lord, you know that we're friends.  Simon's response is interesting for another reason also.   Jesus uses αγαπας (do you care about) in his question.  And, Simon answered with φιλω (we're friends).  Simon might have thought the words meant the same thing.  Or he might have thought that with the formality of the tone Jesus was using, he needed to lighten the tone.  Simon might have simply thought that Jesus was ignoring the fact that for 3 years they had traveled around the countryside together, so he merely wanted to state the obvious.

Jesus wasn't finished after his first question.  Perhaps he didn't receive the answer he wanted.  Perhaps he wanted to drive home a point.  Maybe he was giving Simon an open opportunity in a similar situation (around a fire with others listening to his answers about his association with Jesus, and now around this early morning fire) to change the three denials he had given at Jesus's trial.  For whatever reason, Jesus asks again the same question, σιμων ιωαννων αγαπας με," (Do you care about me?) but without the comparison to "more than all of this."  Jesus reduced the question so that Simon could be clear that it was his heart and fortitude that Jesus needed not his camaraderie.  Simon, however, missed the point.  He answered, ναι κυριε συ οιδας οτι φιλω σε" (Yes, Lord, you know that we're friends.).

Jesus was not one to leave his lessons unfinished.  Some believe that Simon was given a chance to redeem himself from the three denials during Jesus's trial, and that he did redeem himself on this occasion.  But, Jesus's response to Simon's two answers showed that yet again Simon was weak and was not responding in the way Jesus needed or wanted.  Jesus changed his wording to that of Simon's in order to penetrate the facade Simon had put up and to assure him that he needed his service, his heart, and his fortitude.

The tasty morsel comes in the next exchange of this episode.  Jesus asked a third question, but switched his wording, "σιμων ιωαννων φιλεις με," (Are you my friend?).  John records that Simon got the point this third time.  John mentioned Simon's look of consternation to Jesus for switching words, for making Jesus ask three times, and for the formality that Jesus's tone had.  But, Simon being Simon, he didn't change his answer.  He had a stubborn mind.  He answered Jesus, "Κυριε παντα συ οιδας συ γινωκεις οτι φιλω σε," (Lord, you have seen everything. You know that we're friends.).

I think the main lesson here is about facades.  Jesus doesn't buy them.  He sees right through them.  He pursues me until my stubborn mind finally gets the point.  The moment Jesus "gets on my level" with whatever my nature wants to hide from his eyes, he switches to my language until I say, "I get it!"  And he does this to assure me that he needs my service, my heart, and my fortitude.