• Who are we as a small group?
• How does this small group work?
• How does God work among this small group?
• He teaches us through Scripture and one another
• He loves us through his children
• He uses us to help others

We are exploring Jesus' Bible. What was Jesus' Bible? The Old Testament (OT), the Hebrew Scriptures, called the Tanakh by our Jewish friends. In the first century AD, Jesus and his Jewish contemporaries thought of their Bibles as a tripartite anthology of sacred ancient literature: the Law (or Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings (or Psalms).

• The Law
• Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (this last book is the hinge of the pre-exilic historical books)
• The Prophets
• The Former Prophets (aka the Deuteronomistic History): Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings
• The Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel (the 3 major prophets), and the 12 minor prophets
• The Writings
• The Wisdom Literature: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
• Post-exilic History: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
• Ruth, Daniel, Chronicles

See Jesus' three-fold description of "the Scriptures" in Luke 24:44-45. 

We used the map of the Ancient Near East (ANE) given on page 278 of Travis' book as the canvas on which to paint (in broad strokes) the history of ancient Israel from Adam of the post-exilic community.

On Sunday (vs 1), the day in which Jesus has been reported to have been resurrected (vs. 2-12), two disconsolate "followers of Jesus," disappointed and befuddled, leave the scene of grief and hope to head back home to Emmaus (vs. 13). Joined on the road by Jesus, whom they do not initially recognize, they explain the recent circumstances and their perception of things.

 

What do they know? They grasp that Jesus was a prophet mighty in word and deed. The understand that he underwent a shameful criminal's death. They don't buy the claim that he is Israel's liberating King (ie, Messiah), nor that he is no longer dead (vv. 21; cf. v. 11).

 

Their minds are puzzled; their hearts are sad; and they are explicitly disengaged from the Jesus activity in Jerusalem--they are, after all, walking away from the city. They're not sure how to put the pieces of the OT together in such a way that the recent events surrounding Jesus might make any sense. It's all opaque--senseless. They don't know how to integrate Jesus into the OT story so that it all fits as one coherent, comprehensive narrative. But all this begin to change when Jesus (in vv. 25-27) begins to retell the scenes from the OT, from the "writings of Moses and all the prophets," so that they lead up to the life and work of Jesus, making Jesus' aims and accomplishments intelligible.

 

Then, during a meal that was all too familiar to them, kind of a deja vu moment from Jesus' customary family meals (see more here), their eyes were opened. It clicked. The puzzle pieces fell into place. They got it. Note the radical shift of mind, heart, and direction. Now their minds were clear and comprehending. Their hearts, no longer sad, felt strangely warmed. And "within the hour" (no time to waste!) they turned around 180 degrees and headed back into the center of action--engaged once again with the people of God and the work of God (vv. 33-36). They are such a part of things now that when Jesus re-appears to his community of followers, these two from Emmaus are in the heart of it. 

 

Once they discerned how Jesus fit in the story of God and the world, once that big picture came clear, then they were able to discover how they fit in the story, too. Perhaps "disengaged followers," like these two once were, don't sufficiently grasp the full story and how it would shape their identity and guide their steps. Perhaps they could benefit from the kind of rehearsal of the OT that Jesus gave to these disciples as they wandered away, dispirited and disconnected. Maybe a good telling of story and a fresh encounter with Jesus could put us all back in the game.

Jesus' Bible was the primary means by which Jesus felt the heartbeat and heard the voice and direction of God. Through the Bible, God addressed these questions of Jesus:

• What's on my Father's heart? What are his goals?
• Who am I? What's my identity? What's my role?
• Jesus' self-understanding was derived explicitly from the OT. He saw himself as a prophet of God (Mark 6:4); the son of man from Daniel 7 (Mark 9:33); the son of God (as were Adam, Israel, and Israel's King); the Messiah, or annointed liberating King.
• Jesus' sense of calling (or vocation) likewise emerged from his reading of the OT.
• What does it mean to be human in the face of temptation and trial?
• Jesus rebuts temptations with citations from Deuteronomy (cf Matt 4; Luke 4).
• What should inspire my teaching? In which way should I lead Israel?
• Jesus based much of his teaching on the OT (cf. Mark 12:28-31), seen in light of the Kingdom of God, inaugurated in his teaching, healing, table meals, and relationships.
• How can I make sense of contradictory circumstances, when God's promises and my predicaments seem to clash?
• Jesus recites Ps 22 from the cross, a cry to "his God" who seems distant but is known nonetheless by faith to be trustworthy.

There is much that the NT assumes to be true and valid from the OT. The NT follows the OT in a sequence of unfolding drama, much as Harry Potter books 5-7 follow Harry Potter books 1-4. As readers of books (and viewers of movies) know, later bits of a story build on earlier material without having to repeat that material in full. Allusions are then able to draw up to mind whole blocks of material that was more fully expressed in the earlier parts of the narrative. There are many examples where the NT assumes things developed more fully in the OT, such as the creation of all matter and its goodness and ultimate restoration, the mission of Abraham's children as God's agents of blessing for the world, the sanctity of the mundane, and the apparent incongrueties of life, to name but a few. This latter point is explicated from various angles in several books of the OT. Job explores the suffering of the righteous in the form of a story and dialogue. Ecclesiastes' reflections puzzle over the disconnect between one's faithfulness to God and one's circumstancial blessings (or lack thereof). Many of the Psalms express the frustration, the grief, the anger, and the depression that ensue from undeserved adversities and the sense of estrangement from God these entail. Were we to start the biblical story 75% of the way in with Matthew chapter 1, without knowing the earlier chapters in the drama, not only would we forfeit comprehension of the story's unity, direction, and meaning, we also would forfeit the many resources and perspectives the OT uniquely provides.

 

Jesus found the OT Scriptures indispensible to his own life, and to the lives of those who would follow in his footsteps. If he has won our hearts, then he has won our ears. We should hear what he has to say to us "from Moses and all the prophets" about his God and ours, about his identify and ours, about his calling and ours, about his resources and ours. Maybe, as we discover how Jesus fits in the overall narrative, we'll get a better feel for how we fit. And that is sure to help us makes sense of God, Jesus, the OT, the NT, our lives, and our future. Let's pray that, as on the road to Emmaus, he would "open our minds to understand the Scriptures" in such a way that our perspectives would be sharpened, our hearts warmed, and our feet redirected to the path that leads to life. Amen.