[Esther 0] The Prologue

My study of Esther dates back to spring 2011. My study of Esther could been seen as an act of the providence of God, for it seemed like within the spring months of 2011, Esther was thrown at me from many areas of my life. I was timekeeping for ACC Bible Quizzing, and the 2011 Bible Quizzing material was on Joseph and Esther. I was in the midst of student teaching, and the 10^th grade Bible teacher at Christian School of York asked me to teach his 10^th grade class the book of Esther. Already I ran into the book of Esther twice. The third time I would run into it would be in a short discussion in my small group Bible study. Although the discussion was brought about by an event I did not partake in, and the discussion was short and a “side note,” it was a very interesting discussion that raised questions. What happened to bring about the discussion (the “historical occasion” if you will) was a chapel that my 2 friends had at Lancaster Bible College. The chapel speaker began speaking on Esther, and then halfway through the chapel, he announced that the men and women would be split up and spoken to privately on what Esther meant for each gender. As the men and women suspected, the women talked about what it meant to be a woman in leadership (my 2 male friends verified this with their female friends and classmates). The men were excited to learn what Esther means to them as males, but they would be disappointed. Pretty much, the men were told that lesson men can learn from Esther is that men should allow women in leadership. Now may I remind you this chapel is led by a male, so arguing that they are pushing a feminist movement would be a weak one, but whatever your stance is on women in leadership, it should leave you scratching your head. It left my 2 friends scratching their head. Questions arose from the chapel. Why do we have the book of Esther in the Bible? What’s the main point, the moral of the story, and the lesson to be learned from the book of Esther? It would seem like that chapel speaker believed that the main point and the moral of the story is on women in leadership. But if that’s the case, it would beg the question: “Then what does the book of Esther mean for men?” There’s got to be a deeper meaning than “allow women leadership.” Even if you’ve heard that women in leadership is the moral lesson to be learned, I’m going to argue it’s not by giving an argument for a stronger point, a lesson that is equally applicable for men and women. It’s the providence of God.

I want us to float back to one of the questions I asked in the [long] introduction paragraph above. Why do we have the book of Esther in the Bible? A better question: Does Esther belong in the Bible? I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but there are whole studies on the canonicity of the Bible, or determining what books belong in the Bible. And Esther is one of the most debatable and one of the hardest books of the Bible to accept. It hasn’t always been accepted throughout history. A prime example would be the Essences, a Jewish group who didn’t even bother to copy manuscripts of Esther, nor translate Esther into other languages. It’s important to know if Esther is worthy to be in the Bible. If we don’t believe that Esther belongs in the Bible, we’re not going to learn anything from it. To do this, we have to look at some of the outside information we know about the book of Esther before we dive into the actual story of Esther. Yes, I know I usually look at the background information of the book to help give a bigger and deeper understanding of the text, and that’s still true for the book of Esther. But the background information is especially important for the book of Esther because it’s what the theologians and other Bible scholars look at to determine whether Esther is canon or not. So let’s look at the background information as evidence to help us decide whether or not Esther belong in the Bible.

So first let’s look at the author of Esther. Tradition has stated over time two authors. The earliest Jewish tradition credits the Great Synagogue for writing the book of Esther. Let me explain the Great Synagogue. Around one hundred years before Jesus came, about one hundred Jewish Rabbis and other religious leaders of the day got together to decide what books needed to be in the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. During this time, to explain Purim, they want to put Esther in the Bible, but there are hundred of copies, some of which are just official Persian transcripts, and others editions weren’t even on written down. They were oral traditions. So the Jewish Rabbis, who called themselves “The Great Synagogue,” came together to make one copy of the story of Esther, one that agreed with no contradictions. That’s what most Jews say we have today. About one hundred years after the Great Synagogue, there was a Jewish historian by the name of Josephus. Josephus simply said Mordecai was the author, end of story. Some of Jews stick with his reasoning

Each side has valid proof. Those who see Mordecai as the author look at Esther 9:20, which says Mordecai had written it. But the other side will just come back and say it only says Mordecai wrote some of the book, not all of it. The Great Synagogue supporters point towards Esther 10:3. Esther 10:3 uplifts Mordecai greatly. The supporters would say it’s out of character for Mordecai to be so boastful. The supporters of the Great Synagogue also would say that the book many times over mentions the “annals and the chronicles of the Medes and the Persian,” so it’s another source. On the other side, the Mordecai supporters say that it has to be Mordecai because the author is clearly a Persian Jew because the author has full knowledge of the Persian laws and customs, and is lesser concerned about Israel. While I do believe those who support the Great Synagogue has strong arguments, I believe the arguments for Mordecai are stronger, so I’m going to say that Mordecai is the author of the book of Esther.

But the who question has another important people group, known as the audience. The audience is whom the book was originally intended to. The audience for the book of Esther is for all the Jews in Persian Empire. The Jews are scattered among the Persian Empire, thanks to the Babylonian exile. But it might be more specifically to the Jews in Israel. I’m not going to much explanation now, but the Jewish population is still heavily concentrated in Israel. Even though there is a lot of Jews in Israel, they are struggling. The Babylonian invasion tore apart the country and the Babylonian exile only left the poorest of the poor there. Rebuilding Israel is a struggle. For example, it took them 21 years to rebuild the temple. Even during that period, that’s a long time to rebuild a temple.

Now we know the who and the whom, let’s ask ourselves “when,” which obviously refers to dates. This question also comes in two parts. The first part is “When do the events happen?” The answer is somewhere between 483-473 BC. In terms of the Bible chronology, this would be between Ezra 6 and 7. This is critical between the temple has just been finished, and the Jewish people are trying to get back to the Law, which will go into a little deeper later. We know this time frame is right because King Xerxes ruled 486-465 BC. The other date question would be “When is this book written?” and the answer to that would be some time between 465-435 BC. Esther 10 talks about Xerxes in the past tense, so it has to be after his reign. But if Mordecai is the author, it can’t be later than his life. (This has led some canonicity scholars to believe Esther is the last book of the Old Testament to be written.)

Let’s look at the location, or the “where” next. Technically we can say the story happens in the whole Persian Empire because a lot of the decisions that King Xerxes makes affects Jews all around the Persian Empire. But if we were to get into the majority of the story, it would happen the capital city of Susa. It was also known as Shusan. Actually, if we wanted to get more specific, we could even say that it happens at the king’s palace and citadel of Susa. A citadel is the marketplace, the city square. All the important affairs of the city happen there, from the political, like court cases, to the financial, like business transactions. A lot of important events will happen in the citadel of Susa in the book of Esther. But there’s got to be a deeper reason we look at the location than that. So what’s the importance of knowing the location is Susa? The book of Esther focuses on the Jewish people, but doesn’t really mention Israel. The Jewish characters seem to have no urge to even go back to the land of Israel. God doesn’t care as much about the land, but he more cares about the people.

Now we’re going to talk about the “what.” The “what” is the historical occasion, or the events that lead up to the story. Since this Bible book is a historical narrative, the historical occasion will consist of the events that lead up to the current setting of the where and the when. So the question we have to ask ourselves is: What important events do we need to know to understand how we have Jews scattered about the Persian Empire? Well, how far back do you want to go? Technically, we can go all the way back to Genesis, explaining how God created man, but man fell from glory into sin, and how God chose a person (Abraham) to bring about a chose people who will ultimately bring about the Messiah and salvation. But I don’t think that’s necessary. Don’t worry, I got it down to 7. First, we need to remember God’s promise to the Israelites that they get to be in the promised land if they obey God, but if they do not obey God, they will be sent into exile. But as we know, the Israelites don’t obey. One of the reasons may be because they did not get rid of the foreign influences that would turn them to idol worship. One example I am going to pick out is King Saul and the Amalekites. The Lord commands Saul to kill off the Amalekites and wipe them off the face of the planet. Saul, to exalt himself, decides to let the royal family live. This specific example might come back to hurt the heroes of the story. But back to the disobedience of Israel, the disobedience leads to sin, and the sin leads to exile. Even with Israel and Judah split, both will go into exile. Israel is taken captive by Assyria in 722 BC and Judah is exiled by Babylon in 586 BC. While Judah is in exile, one of its prophets, by name of Daniel, interprets a couple of dreams in which God reveals the progression of empires. First comes the Babylonians. Next the Medes and the Persians will take over, then the Greeks will conquer, followed by the Romans. Sure enough, we see the first part come true as the Medes and Persians take over Babylon 539 BC. The Persian King Cyrus allows all the exiled to go back home, but many choose to stay there. The Jews that do decide to go back to have a huge assignment in front of them. They have to rebuild the capital city of Jerusalem, which includes the temple and the city walls, as well as their homes. And they are struggling. They are poor and they face opposition. They are losing hope.

So now we know the who, whom, where, when, and the what, we can answer the why. The “why” is the purpose of the book of Esther. Why was the book written? To create a purpose, we need to combine all the details of the information given above. We’re agreeing on Mordercai writing the book of Esther. We’re agreeing that the audience is the Jews, mostly the Jews heavily concentrated in Israel. Now take into to consideration the historical occasion. The Jews in Israel are struggling to rebuild Israel and are losing hope. What do you need to do for someone struggling and losing hope? You motivate them! What do you motivate them with? God’s providence and faithfulness!

Mordecai wrote the book of Esther to motivate the Jews with God’s providential delivery and faithfulness to his people.

Now we know the purpose, or why Mordecai wrote the book, we can answer the plan, or how Mordecai will demonstrate God is provident, God is faithful and God will deliver. Maybe you’ve heard the Bible isn’t good at story telling. Well, Esther proves that wrong. The book of Esther is written like a play. It is a 3 act play, with 3 scenes each, except the last act, which has 4 scenes. Each scene is a chapter, and each chapter is a scene.

1. Act 1: The characters are introduced, and conflict arises (Esther 1-3)
1. Scene 1: A spot opens up (Esther 1)
2. Scene 2: The heroes are introduced and are strategically placed (Esther 2)
3. Scene 3: The villain is introduced, and he begins his evil plan (Esther 3)
2. Act 2: The plot thickens, and the climax is reached (Esther 4-6)
1. Scene 1: The heroes devise the plan (Esther 4)
2. Scene 2: The heroes set up the plan (Esther 5)
3. Scene 3: CLIMAX!- a foreshadowing of the villain’s downfall to the heroes (Esther 6)
3. Act 3: The heroes save the day (Esther 7-10)
1. Scene 1: The heroes win, the villain loses (Esther 7)
2. Scene 2: The good guys win, the bad guys lose (Esther 8)
3. Scene 3: The heroes and the good guys celebrate (Esther 9)
4. Scene 4: And they all live happily ever after (Esther 10)

Maybe a visual would help.

 

 

It’s called a literary pyramid (or some name similar to that). A literary pyramid shows the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution. At the base on the left, the characters, setting and conflict are introduced. The incline on the left is the rising action, or what happens to get from the conflict to the climax. At the top of the pyramid is the climax, where the plot twists in a way that it cannot go back to what it use to be. The falling action is what happens to get from the climax to the resolution. Finally, there is the resolution, where the problem is solved. When the book of Esther is put in the literary pyramid, it would look like the picture above. Esther 1-2 is the introduction, where the protagonists are introduced and the setting is put in place. In Esther 3-5, the antagonist is introduced, and the antagonist starts bringing in conflict against the protangonists. In Esther 6, the climax happens because the antagonist’s downfall is in full motion and nothing can stop it. Esther 7-8 shows the downfall fully play out and Esther 9-10 displays the resolution to the story in its final state. The literary pyramid demonstrates a second time that Esther is good story material.

Now that we have the introductory material, we have now made a big step forward in deciding whether or not the book of Esther is canonical, or whether or not the book of Esther belongs in the Bible. First, let’s review what we just talked about

AUTHOR (WHO): Mordecai

AUDIENCE (WHOM): The Jews

DATE (WHEN): Took place 483-473 BC, written in 465-435 BC

LOCATION (WHERE): Susa, the capital city of the Persian Empire

HISTORICAL OCCASION (WHAT): The Jews in Israel are struggling to rebuild Jerusalem, and they are losing hope

PURPOSE (WHY): Mordecai wrote the book of Esther to motivate the Jews with God’s providential delivery and faithfulness to his people.

PLAN (HOW): A 3-Act Play

 

A big part of canonicity is historicity. Historicity is seeing if the Bible lines up with history. When it comes to historicity, Esther has its strengths and weaknesses. The first strength is that book accurately reflects the Persian empire, its culture and its customs. The second strength is that it fits the literary style of the time, too. Back then, history was told like a story. At the same time, history can be its weakness. One weakness is that there is no mention of Vashti, Esther, Mordecai or Haman is mentioned in any discovered Persian writings. Xerxes is mentioned in the Persian writings, but the character of Xerxes in those Persian writings is totally different from the character of Xerxes in the book of Esther. But one could easily say it’s because the Persian writings made sure to put their king in a positive atmosphere, without mistakes or problems. Another weakness is that the times and chronologies do not always match what we know as history. Besides history, canonicity is also looked at from different perspectives, such as the message. Those for Esther being in the Bible would say Esther belongs because of 3 important messages. First, it shows the triumph of God’s people over his enemies. Second, it shows the providence of God. Third, it gives a background of Purim. But the message can be contested simply with one fact: there’s not mention of God, or any other name for God, such as Lord. We’re even going to find in our reading the perfect verse where God could be mentioned, but he’s not. In fact, there’s no mention of the law or sacrifices either (but to be fair, sacrifices would have to happen in Jerusalem, and the story takes place in Susa). So what is the good of a message if there is no God? Does God have to be mentioned to say he’s at work?

Those last 2 questions are the questions I want to stick in your mind all throughout our study of Esther. “Is God at work even though he is not mentioned?” I think the same question applies to us. God will not always give a big sign that says, “I am at work here!” So does that mean God is not at work? By no means! It is up to us to see God at work, use that in our testimony, and praise Him. So for this Bible study, I am going to give you a follow-up activity. Take a piece of lined notebook paper. Label this paper in the top margin “God Sightings.” In the left hand column, to the left of the red/pink line, write the date. In the body, right of the red/pink line, write down something or somewhere you saw God at work. I plan to stretch this Bible study on Esther throughout September, so see if you can keep this list up daily for the whole month of September, or even past that. But if even if you decide not to participate in this little exercise, I’ll be pointing out the “God Sightings” in Esther. You can follow along with that.

In conclusion, I ask again, “Does Esther belong in the Bible?” There are more pros for Esther being in the Bible than there are cons against. The pros for Esther’s canonicity are stronger than the weak cons. So I have come to the decision that Esther belongs in the Bible. Since Esther belongs in the Bible, it needs to be studied so we can learn from it. So let’s begin our walk through this 3-Act play to see what message God is teaching us

Immigrant Story

Just a couple of weeks ago I finished my summer course Christian Leadership and Administration. One of the books I read for the class was written by a pastor who talked about the pastor as a church leader. Naturally, coming from a pastor, talking about pastors, the author threw in a chapter about preparing and preaching sermons. Since I just completed two classes on preaching over two semesters, I believed I had learned everything to know about preaching, so I skimmed over the chapter instead of reading it in depth. Through my skimming, I did notice one piece of advice he gave that I liked, I have adapted, and I will use right now. He said that any time a pastor preaches a sermon out of the ordinary, the pastor should give a disclaimer, just in case if any visitors were present, they would not get the wrong idea about the church or the pastor. So let me put my disclaimer in here. I do not preach politics from the pulpit. I do not like pastors that do preach politics from the pulpit. I do not attend churches that preach politics from the pulpit. I seek only to speak biblical, theological and spiritual truths from the Word of God. Due to current events in the world of politics, however, I can see this message coming across as a political statement. I want to make clear this in no way is a political statement. In fact, when the current event came out, I considered totally scrapping this sermon and starting anew. After thinking about it, I chose not to, however, because maybe the current event will make this sermon more relevant and more applicable.

If you are unaware of what current event I’m referring to, let me fill you in. One of the televisions at work is set to CNN. CNN has informed me that the 2016 Presidential race is well under way…even though it’s only 2015. On the Republican side, one of the first men to announce his candidacy is Donald Trump, a man famous for building skyscrapers and firing celebrities on his reality show. Trump decided to kick off his presidential bid by announcing his plan for immigration reform. In his speech, he said this about Mexican immigrants (and once again, I will add a disclaimer that many television networks say: the views of Mr. Trump do not reflect my views)-

“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems... It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

 

Naturally, comments like that will result in fall out. Upon hearing the comments, the U.S. territory Puerto Rico dropped out of the Donald Trump’s Miss Universe beauty pageant. Soon after, many Latin American countries followed suit. At the same time, since Donald Trump has announced his presidential run, his rating rises every day. Some polls even have ranked Donald Trump has the number one choice for Republicans in the presidential race. Some political analysts give Donald Trump’s comments credit for shooting him up in the political race. How does someone make such comments, and yet still remain so popular?

But as the preacher in Ecclesiastes said, there is nothing new under the sun. This current event reminded me of a personal experience I had in fall 2009, as I began my third year at Lancaster Bible College. The past summer I decided to change my major from Bible Ministry to Bible Education. While all my Bible credits transferred without any problem, because I had to start brand new in the education department, I found myself, a junior, sitting in many education classes with first-semester freshman. One such class was The Teaching Profession, the fancy name that LBC gave its Intro to Teaching class. A few weeks into the class, we came across the chapter in our textbook called “Race and Ethnicity in the Classroom.” While the textbook was a few years old, my professor did an excellent job keeping the statistics up to date. She reported that by the 2020s decade, even by the year 2020 itself, that the races and ethnic groups that have been defined as the “minorities” in the U.S. will become the majority, quantity-wise, in the classroom. It’s also possible that by 2020, 50% of students will speak English as a secondary language, and 10% will not even know English at all. My professor asked the classroom for any reaction; any thoughts or feels this news provoked. My reaction was surprise, not at what the teacher taught, but how my classmate reacted. Their reaction was shock, fear, anger, horror, terror. It was as if some great evil had fell upon this country and something needing to be done about it. Now, granted, these students were freshmen in their first semester of college. They had not received their Bible or theology courses yet. But from hearing their testimonies the opening week of class, I knew most of the students were your “typical church kids.” They have attended church since one week old, attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School since 3 years old, and both regularly attended and been actively involved in both Jr. High and Sr. High youth group. Not once did a pastor, youth pastor, youth group leader, Sunday School teacher or Bible School teacher present what the Bible said. For the Lord talks about it at least five times explicitly in the Bible. Luckily for them, the professor had me doing devotions next class. Since devotions had to do with what we were learning in class, I had the perfect opportunity to share what God had say about race, ethnicity and immigrants. Today, I would like to share them with you. Back then, I only got a few minutes, so all I could do was simple present a couple verses and tie them together. Now, I want to expand on these verse. From a literal, plain reading of the verses, it will be clear where God stands on this. But when we look back on the original context, the historical context and the cultural context, the meaning behind these verses become even stronger.

Let’s take our first look at the first appearance in Exodus 22:21. While you’re turning there, since I know many of you use different Bible translations, let me explain the one word that will appear different depending on your translation. The Hebrew manuscripts have the word ger. The New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV) and the Revised Standard Version (RSV) all choose to translate the word as “stranger.” This translation is a little out of date, and it makes sense, if you think about it logically. Later on, the verses call the Israelites ger in the land of Egypt. After residing in Egypt over 400 years, it’s hard to call any person a stranger. Heck, the Israelites might have even known the land better than the Egpytians knew it! So the Israelites are far from strangers. The 1984 edition of the New International Version (NIV, 1984 ed.) calls them aliens. But thanks to the rising popularity of science fiction, which you can thank the space race in the late 20^th century for that, the modern-day reader could confuse the Israelites for Martians or extraterrestrials. Talk about the confusing theology that would produce! So the 2011 edition changed the word from “aliens” to “foreigners,” which most other Bible translations also choose. I personally think this is arguing semantics. They could say the word “alien” makes people think that the Isarelites or Martians or extraterrestrials, but I could say that the word “foreigner” makes people think the Israelites were in a 70’s rock band. (And then when I read the Israelites were on a journey, I could think the Israelites were in an 80’s rock band.) The best translation is probably what the English Standard Version (ESV) chooses, the word “sojourner.” But you will hear me use stranger, sojourner, alien and foreigner all interchangeably. Just promise when you hear “alien,” you won’t think of Martians or extraterrestrials, and when I say “foreigner” you won’t think of any 70’s rock band (although, for your entertainment, I will later make a bunch of Foreigner references. See you if can catch them all.)

The Lord first mentions how to treat foreigners in Exodus. Actually, God mentions twice. In Exodus 22:21, the Lord commands, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” God commands it again in Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” You’ll notice many similarities in these verses. So why would the Lord repeat the command, so close to one another? The literary context, on its spot within the text, might explain. Since Exodus 22:21 is so close to the Ten Commandments, Exodus 22:21 might be seen as an expansion of the Ten Commandments. If the Ten Commandments can be summed up as, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then Exodus 22 explain in detail how to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might and how to love your neighbor as yourself. Then Exodus 22:21 reminds us that the sojourner is our neighbor, and we need to love the sojourner as our neighbor. In Exodus 23:1-9, God teaches Israel how to execute justice in the court systems. Exodus 23:9 teaches Israel that justice must extend to the foreigners living among them, even though they are not Israelites.

But take a close long at the big, glaring similarity, Every time the Lord says, “for you were sojourners in the land in the Egypt.” The Lord calls the Israelites back to remember their history.

Do you remember Israel’s history? I bet many of you do because you grew up in church. So for you, I will quickly fast forward with an abridged version of Israel’s history, only highlighting the important details that led up to God giving Israel this commandment. But if you haven’t, please do, for it’s a wonderful story of God blessing his people Israel as they struggle to comprehend God’s holiness for their lives. The story of how Israel got to God giving them commandments on Mount Sinai begins in the book of Genesis, with a man name Joseph. At the age of 17, Joseph starting having weird dreams that told him that his brothers would bow down to him. As you older siblings can imagine, these dreams did not go over well with Joseph’s brothers. They wanted to kill him, but Reuben, the firstborn, did not want that bloodshed on his hands, so they sell into slavery in Egypt. Long story short, Joseph lands in jail. There, he uses his experience with dreams to help interpret the dreams of those in jail with him. News of experience in dreams reaches Pharaoh, who is having some pretty crazy dreams himself. He brings Joseph to him and says to him, “I’ve been having some pretty weird dreams. I’ve seen 7 skinny cows eat 7 fat cows, and I’ve seen 7 sick heads of grain eat 7 healthy heads of grain. And it’s starting to freak me out, since cows don’t eat each other and heads of grain don’t eat each other. What does it mean?” Joseph explains to Pharaoh, “Oh, this is easy! 7 fat cows and 7 healthy heads of grain mean 7 years of plentiful harvest. 7 skinny cows and 7 sickly heads of grain mean 7 years of famine. When the skinny cows eat the fat cows, and the sickly heads of grain eat the healthy heads of grain, it means the famine years will be so bad, it will be like the plentiful years did not even happen! If I were you know, I would save and store up all your extra in the plentiful years so you will be alright during the famine years. Pharaoh replies, “You sound like you know what you’re doing, so I’ll put you second in change of all Egypt so you will have all the power to do what you need to do to save Egypt.” Sure enough, Joseph’s planning saves Egypt from starving to death. But from the story in Genesis, we learn that the famine affected all the Middle East, including Joseph’s family back in Canaan. Joseph’s brothers, hearing how Egypt is surviving, decide to go to Egypt to see if they can get any food. Once again abriding the story, Joseph eventually reveals to his brothers his identity, and he says to them, “No more of this going back and forth for food. You come live with me in Egypt, and I will take care of you.” While the book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and Joseph, it ends on a fairly happen. Jacob’s descendants are living in peace and happiness in Egypt, enjoying plentiful blessings.

Then comes the book of Exodus. In the first chapter of Exodus, verse 8, the tides begin to turn. Verses 8 to 10 read, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’” How could this new king not about the man who single-handedly, with God’s help, save a whole nation? It’s not that he does not have knowledge about what Joseph did, but he does not recognize Joseph for what he did, and here’s why. Now what I about to say does not appear in the Bible, per se, but Old Testament scholars have teamed up with historians who specialize in Ancient Egyptian history and archaeologists who specialize in ancient Egyptian archaeology. Together, they have matched up their timelines, and they believe what is happening here is not just a change in kings, but also a change in dynasty. They believe that previous king was half-Egyptian, half-semetic, or half of him was Middle Eastern. So when Joseph, another semite, asks for permission to move his family into Egypt, he has no problem letting another semite like him into the country, for he’s partially blood related. But then a new king, from a new dynasty comes into power. He’s pure-bred, 100% full Egyptian. After a tumultuous change of power between the two families in the Egyptian kingdom, the new king does not like semites, nor does he like any foreigner for that matter. So when calls together his people, the other pure-bred, 100% full Egyptians, I can imagine him saying to his people, “Look, this is a great nation. But do you know what’s ruining this country? Immigrants. Egypt is for Egyptians, not for any foreigner to steal from our success. We’re better than them, so let them work to give to us, instead of us working to give to them.” I think that’s why the new Pharaoh enslaves them instead of kicking them out. Pharaoh sees they are a blessed people, Pharaoh wants that blessing, but Pharaoh knows losing the people of Israel means losing the blessing. So he enslaves them. Even through their enslavement, Israel continues to receive blessing after blessing from God, making the people of Israel even greater, and making the new Pharaoh even more nervous. So he then proceeds to kill the baby boys.

But God hears the Israelites crying out in their oppression, and He has compassion on them. So God sends Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Pharaoh says no, so God sends 10 plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind. After the first 9 plagues, Pharaoh remained as cold as ice. Sometimes he was even hot blooded. But after the 10^th plague, on that blue morning,blue day, Pharaoh finally got the message at let the people go. But Pharaoh wasn’t happy about that. He became cold as ice yet again. So Pharaoh sent the whole Egyptian army to retrieve the Israelites and bring them back. The army was so big, when the Israelites saw them, they must have thought they had double vision! Moses thought fast and prayed, “Lord, this is urgent!” and God answered their prayers. If Israel wanted to know what love is, they found out what love is from God on that day, when God showed compassion on them yet again and rescued them from the Egyptians yet again. It must have felt like the first time, when the Lord first took them out of Egypt. (Did you catch them all? J )

So God brings them to Mount Sinai, and the first thing the Lord reminds them at Mount Sinai is what just happened. It is as if the Lord is saying to his people, “Remember what was it was like to be an alien in a foreign land? Remember how they worked you from sunrise to sunset, every day of the week? Remember how they work you harshly and brutally until you were sick and dying? Remember how you wished that someone showed you compassion, and if on the rare occasion someone did, how happy and relieved you were? I want you to remember those feelings. Then remember that’s the heart, too. You wish you were treated with love and compassion, so treat the foreigners among you with love and compassion.” The Israelites would need to practice their compassion to foreigners right away. Exodus 12 informs that not only did the Israelites leave, but also a mixed multitude of Egyptians and other foreigners. I can imagine the foreigners from other nations coming to Moses, saying, “We prayed to our gods to save us, and they never did. Your God came and saved you, so we want to follow your god, for he saves his people.” The Israelites would need to remember give the same rights and respect as any Israelite. The Israelites would need to especially practice this for the Egyptian among the multitude that went with them. Once again, I imagine Egyptians coming to Moses, saying to him, “We clearly saw our gods defeated by your god with the 10 plagues. Our gods are weak, but your God is strong. We want to worship him.” The Israelites might be tempted to seek revenge. They might want enslave the Egyptians, for the Egyptians enslaved them. They might want to kill their Egyptian baby boys, for the Egyptians killed the Israelite boys. The Lord ends the desire for revenge right here. The Egyptians living among them get treated with the same right and respect as any Israelites. They are to be treated with love and compassion, not revenge. If any Israelite wants to object to God’s command, God will keep calling them to remember their history.

On the same Mount Sinai, the Lord present to the Moses and the Israelites the laws found in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus, God commands Israel once again, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Once again, God reminds Israel of their history, strengthening the command through the historical context, but God also strengths through the literary context and the cultural context. The book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The word “holy” (or some form of it) is the most repeated word in book, probably due to God repeatedly commanding Israel, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” I’ve already given you your Hebrew word for the day, so I’m not going to give you another one, but the root of the Hebrew word is derived from the root meaning “set apart.” What makes God so holy, so righteous, so good is that he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods of the other nations. Therefore, it makes logical sense that if the Israelites are to be holy like God is holy, and if Yahweh is holy because he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods, then the worshippers of Yahweh must also think, speak and act differently than the worshippers of the other gods. One of those ways they can act differently than the other nations is to treat the alien within their land differently.

To fully appreciate how this commandment does that, you have to understand how most nations of the ancient Middle East treated its foreigners. An alien in a foreign land was given no rights, nor was a native given any obligation to treat an alien with respect. On the contrary, it was common for the sojourner to be exploited and extorted. If a sojourner dared to attempt to go to court over such injustice, rarely would a judge hear the case. If he did, the judge would most often favor the native over the foreigner. More often, the native would bring the foreigner to court, and the foreigner would fight a uphill battle, only to lose. If anyone showed any charity to a sojourner, it was out of the kindness of his or her heart. The Holy God, Yahweh, wanted his people, Israel, to be holy by living contrary to this culture. Notice how Leviticus 19:34 contains a form of that famous 2^nd greatest command, “Love them as yourself.” The Israelites would have known that command and would have made the connection that the foreigner living in their land is still their neighbor. Therefore, God commands them to love the foreigner. In a world that exploited and extorted the foreigner, the Lord commands his people to love and to show compassion to the foreigner. In a world that showed favoritism to the native over the sojourner in the courts, the Lord wants Israel to reflect God’s justice by bring equality and fairness in the court. By doing so, Israel will love the foreigner like God loves the foreigner, and therefore, Israel will be holy like God is holy.

And might I quickly add a tidbit of application for the 21^st century American. If you are anything like me, you might start to get nervous when people start talking about holiness. You worry it might lead to legalism, and people will start judging other people for not following do’s and do not’s to the letter. But note here how God links up holiness and love. If Israel wants to pursue holiness, they have to learn to love everyone, including the sojourner. So the pursuit of holiness involves the pursuit of love. If in your pursuit of holiness, you are not loving, then you’re not pursuing holiness.

The Lord repeats the command again in Deuteronomy. If you know the original audience, then it becomes clear why God has to repeat the command. The name of the book, Deuteronomy, literally means “second law.” The Lord has to give the Law a second time because this is the second generation of Israelites after the Israelites who came out of Egypt. The new generation of Israelites might be tempted to say, “Lord, I understand why our parents had to be kind to the sojourner. I get that. But I was never a slave. Therefore, you can’t use that defense against me.” The Lord would disagree. The Lord once again says, “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there.” God even uses in the Hebrew the plural version of you. Our brothers and sister in Christ down south would read it “y’all shall remember that y’all were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed y’all from there.” It is a part of Israel’s history for all generations, so all generations must obey this command. But I want to look at Deuteronomy for another reason. The Lord expands on how to love the sojourner among them. Take a look at Deuteronomy 24:14-15,17-22-

“¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ¹⁵ You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. ¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, ¹⁸ but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. ¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
 

Notice how God keeps pairing the sojourner with the widows and the fatherless (orphans in the NIV). God puts them in the category of the poor and helpless. This is a helpful reminder for us Americans, who are the 1% wealthiest in the world. When we move from one country to another, it’s because we love the geography or the culture of the new nation over the old nation. That was rarely the case back then. Back then people moved from country to country because of some great disaster or tragedy back in their home country. It could be famine, war or political unrest. The disaster would destroy their homeland, leaving them nothing. They are left with no other choice than to start brand new in a country and a new homeland. And they didn’t have U-Haul back then. If they could afford a cart, they fill the cart to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. If they could only afford one horse, donkey or camel, they loaded its back to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. But if they could not afford either a cart or an animal, all they took with them is what they could load on their back. They had to start in their new land with little to nothing. They came to the new land poor and helpless. God wants his people to recognize this. Therefore, showing the sojourner love is to show the foreigner grace. The Israelites can show the sojourner by providing the foreigner the leftovers of his harvest.

Now when Pastor Rob Bell reads this passage, he imagines the Israelites saying, “That’s not fair! I planted the crops, I watered the crops, I took care of the crops, therefore, I should get the fullest of the harvest!” Therefore, Rob Bell concludes that grace is unfair (in a positive connotation). I’m not sure I would call it unfair. Maybe undeserving, but not unfair. Rather, I would say that grace returns the unfair to the fair. God questions the Israelite who thinks this is unfair, “Do you think it’s fair that the widow lost her husband and now has no income? Do you think it’s fair that the orphans have no parents, who can’t provide the basic necessities from food and water to love and support? Do you think it’s fair that the sojourner had to leave his home and most of his possessions to travel to a new a strange land?” That Israelite has to quietly answer “No.” God calls Israel to show grace to share the pain. The Israelite can say, “Here, I will give to you, taking loss, so I can feel the pain of loss like you are feeling.” The Israelite can relate, and then will truly show love.

So we looked at 4 different verses, from 3 different books, in 3 different contexts. Just through a literal, plain reading of the text, it’s clear what God wants us to do. He wouldn’t have repeated it so much if he didn’t want us to take it too seriously. Then we looked at the 3 contexts, and we saw how the 3 contexts further strengthened the meaning of the verse. So how do we as Americans apply in the 21^st century?

First, to fully and truly reach out to someone, we must reach out to them in their culture. I’ve traveled abroad twice. Once I spent 1 ½ weeks on a missions trip in Honduras after 8^th grade. A second time, I 3 ½ weeks in a semester abroad in Israel, learning the history, geography and culture of Israel. Both times, in Honduras and Israel, they would always speak English! Sometimes, both Israel and Honduras would even bring out American food for our meals. In Honduras, no one forced me to speak Spanish, eat the local food, and wear clothes like everyone else in the country. In Israel, no one forced me to speak Hebrew, eat like an Israeli or dress like a Middle Eastern man. They showed me love and compassion by reaching out to me in my culture and showing hospitality. Therefore, when I know someone from a different culture enters my world, I try to show them love and compassion through hospitality. The warehouse I work in is like the future classroom of 2020. I am in the minority by being white and speaking English. One guy I worked with spoke Spanish primarily, and he spoke a broken English secondarily. I would struggle to do my job because I struggled to understand him! Then I remembered my experiences in Honduras and Israel, so I decided to reach out to him. I dusted off my notes from my 3 years of high school Spanish and re-learned my Spanish. My Spanish is as broken as his English. But between my broken English and his broken Spanish, we begin to understand each other better. We even connected better, to the point I could ask him, “Como estas tu famila?” (“How is your family?”) If you want to reach out the foreigner living near you, reach out to their world and culture.
 

Second, think of your identity in Christ. We often explain our relation as the church to God in metaphors. The more popular ones are bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the family of God. One of our identities we don’t often talk about is that we our citizens of the kingdom of God. That as national implications. I would even go as far as say that our citizenship in the kingdom of God supersedes any other national identity, whether we are citizens, or dual citizens or are the alien living in the foreign land. Therefore, a Christian living in the United States of America is an alien in a foreign land. Sometimes it’s easy to feel like an alien in a foreign land when Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that is contrary to the Bible. But sometimes Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that agrees with Biblical teaching. That I see as God’s grace. So we know what it’s like to be an alien in a foreign land. We know how hard it can sometimes be, and we know the feelings of pure joy and relief when we get grace. That feeling should be our motivator, and it should motivate us to show love, compassion and grace to a sojourner adjusting to the local culture.

And just another quick side thought. I’m slow to say this because I’m still developing it. Another current event happening is that relations between the U.S.A. and Cuba are finally beginning to warm up. The first sign of such healing happening is that Cuba has allowed the U.S. embassy to reopen. The cool thing about an embassy is that no matter how big or small the plot of land is, even it’s just one acre, that land is considered land of the embassy’s nation, not the land of the nation where it resides. So the U.S. embassy in Cuba is considered U.S. territory, not Cuba territory, and U.S. laws, not Cuba laws, apply. As Christians, we believe church is the people, not the building, yet we struggle with what to do with the building. What if we decided that the building was like the embassy of the kingdom of God in the U.S.A.? What if we decided to live out the kingdom of God in the church instead of living out the American culture within these walls? When a non-Christian, someone not native to the kingdom of God, enters here, do we show them love and compassion, or do we judge them for not living our lifestyle? The verses I presented to you should motivate you to do the former!

But maybe I haven’t won you over on that identity as a citizen of the kingdom of God, living as an alien in a foreign land. Maybe you still believe that when the foreigner comes to live in a new culture, he has to adjust to the culture. Then may I present to you a third application. I know sometimes Christians don’t always consistently decided on which Old Testament Laws to follow literally and to follow figuratively. So when it comes reading Old Testament Law, the first question I ask is, “What does this law say about God, and how can I reflect it?” With all these verses, I see God as compassionate. He wants Israel to be compassionate towards sojourners because he compassionate to sojourners. God always sides with the weak, so if we really want to be on God’s side, we must side with the weak, such as the foreigner. Therefore, we as Christians, living in the United States in the 21^st century, need to show compassion. This one, I believe, Christians in America need to work on the most. Once again, let me put in here one last disclaimer. I heard both political parties’ immigration policy. I understand where both sides come from. I believe both sides have pros and cons. But too often have I seen both sides lack compassion! No matter what policy you side with, you must never ever lose compassion! They are people, they have rights as human beings made in the image of God, and therefore you must love them and you must have compassion! So if you want to the follow this law in the best way, show the sojourner compassion.

As I close, my prayer is for you that no matter where you stand politically, you will show love and compassion to everyone, including the sojourner. I pray your love and compassion will lead to display hospitality and a willingness to reach out to another’s culture. When you can get your heart, your mind, and your hands to do, so will truly reflect God in both his love and his holiness. Remember, God showed you compassions when you were estranged from him, so you too must show compassion to the strangers among you.

If I Only Had A Heart (Ezekiel 36:26)

After my last sermon at my church, as I shook hands with the congregation members exiting, the pastor’s wife approached me. She thanked me for the sermon, and she commented about how I always use culture, or more specifically, pop culture, in my sermons, which she liked. Indeed, I do commonly mention some kind of culture as a sermon illustration. In my church, we’re talking about what being spiritually passionate looks like, and how we can become spiritually passionate. From what I noticed among my generation, my generation becomes spiritually passionate when they realized their faith is relevant to their lives and to their world, and they become less spiritually passionate when they cannot make that connection between their faith and their world. I fully believe in a saying that both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien lived by: “In Jesus Christ all the myths come true.” What this means, simply, is that God has written the gospel on our hearts, and therefore, sometimes some of the gospel appears in our stories. This is why I can so easily use culture as sermon illustrations. I have used the 90’s children’s show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to show how people desire to be transformed, as Paul wrote in Romans 12:2. I have used a Johnny Cash song to demonstrate that the heart longs for social justice, the social justice Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 1. I have used the sitcom the Office to display how everyone wants a second chance, like the second chance Jesus gave Peter in John 21. All these cultural artifacts, as I and many others like to call them, contain bits and pieces of the gospel, which reflect our yearning for the gospel.

 

I’ve already used televisions show and music, so this time, let’s use a movie. I know a lot of the previous examples I gave might be more relatable to young audiences because they are more recent, so let’s use a classic. It doesn’t get any more classic than The Wizard of Oz. My dad and his brothers, AKA my uncles, are very much into movies. They are always watching the lastest movies, either in the theatre or at home on DVD. Even after 50 years of watching movies, they still come back to The Wizard of Oz as a favorite. Just in case you’re not familiar with the book turned into a movie, Dorothy is a teenager living in rural Kansas. Not far into the movie, Dorothy realizes she’s not in Kansas anymore, but she finds herself in the land of Oz, thanks to a tornado. After a nasty encounter with a witch who wants her ruby red slippers, she feels quite unwelcomed and longs to go back home, but the only one who can bring her home is the Wizard of Oz, residing in Emerald City. The munchkins of Munchkin land inform Dorothy that she’ll get to Emerald City as long follows the yellow brick road.

On her travels along the yellow brick road, she meets three men who also need to see the Wizard of Oz for various needs. One of these men, the second, is the tin man. The tin man informs Dorothy that he was made without a heart, and he needs a heart. At first, the audience must assume the tin man is talking about a literal heart, the muscle that pumps blood. This might leave the audience scratching their heard. After all, why would a tin man need a muscle that pumps blood? But as the tin man sings his hit song for which this sermon is named, “If I Only A Heart,” the audience realizes the tin man is not talking about a literal heart. The tin man sings that he could be “tender, gentle, and awfully sentimental,” he could, “register emotion, jealousy and devotion, and he could be “kind of human,” if he only had a heart. Clearly, this isn’t the literal, physical heart. Instead, this is a metaphor, a symbol to represent emotions.

The tin man is not the only one to talk about the heart as a metaphor and a symbol. In fact, we use the heart as an expression and idiom a lot in the English language. You can have an aching heart, a big heart, a broken heart, a cold heart, a cowardly heart, an empty heart, an evil heart, a generous heart, a hard heart, a kind heart, a loving heart, a pure heart, a soft heart, a tender heart, a warm heart, a heart of glass, a heart of gold, a heart of a lion, a heart of stone, or the heart of a warrior. Furthermore, you can be half-hearted or whole-hearted, you can cross your heart and hope to die, eat your heart out, follow your heart, get to the heart of the matter, have your heart set on something, have a change of heart, have your heart in the right or wrong place, have a heart-to-heart talk, you can know something by heart, leave your heart somewhere, mean something from the bottom of your heart, pour your heart out and wear your heart on your sleeve. These are just some of the idioms and expressions, and there’s probably a lot more you can think of that I missed. After seeing this long list, I can’t help but wonder if we in the English language talk about the heart figuratively more than literally!

The Bible does the same thing. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for heart, lev, appears 252 times. In the New Testament, the Greek word for heart is kardia. For those in work in the medical field, that should be no surprise, as any medical term that involves the heart has kardia somewhere in it. For example, cardiac arrest is when the heart fails to pump blood. The Greek word kardia appears 156 times in the New Testament. That’s a total of 408 times the heart is mentioned in the Bible, and not a single one of those talks about the heart literally. Instead, they all talk about the heart figuratively. The heart symbolically represent emotions, attitudes, motives, intent, will and thought.

The Bible also is full of metaphors of the heart. The Bible talks about a blackslidden heart, burning heart, clean heart, closed heart, crooked heart, dark heart, deceitful heart, discerning heart, faint heart, faithful heart, foolish heart, glad heart, honest heart, humble heart, merry heart, open heart, overflowing heart, proud heart, renewed heart, righteous heart, silent heart and an uncircumcised heart. Furthermore, the Bible commands us to guard our heart, keep our heart, nourish our heart and strengthen our heart. The list goes on and on!

There’s one metaphor that I left out. That’s a new heart. That’s our metaphor for today, and that’s the metaphor that comes from our Scripture verse, Ezekiel 36:26.

Let me set the context on Ezekiel 36:26 by giving the whole context of Ezekiel 36. From our reading of the Old Testament, God has entered into a covenant with Israel. If Israel fulfills the conditions of the covenant by obeying the Law, Israel will receive blessings of land, seed (descendants) and many other blessings on top of that. If Israel did not fulfill the covenant, and they disobeyed the Law, God will remove his blessings and Israel will stand cursed. In the time of Ezekiel, we find just that. Israel has not fulfilled its end of the covenant, it has not obeyed the Law, it has sinned. They have not shown love to God because they have worshipped idols. They have not shown love to their neighbors, but have become quite violent towards each other. In Ezekiel 36:16,17, God confronts Israel about its sin. God blessed Israel with a land of their own, but Israel ruined their blessing by defiling it with idol worship and violated bloodshed. Therefore, in a covenant of obedience producing blessings and disobedience resulting in curses, God exiled Israel from the land he gave them into the lands of the gods they worshipped, as recorded in Ezekiel 36:18,19, for they did not hold up their end of the covenant. Sounds simple, right? But it’s not so simple. God entered a covenant with Israel in order to be a witness on how God loves his people, cares for his people, wants to be in a relationship and bless the people he’s created. While Israel sinned, thus deserving their punishment, it might seem like God has turned his back on his people, ruining the witness, as stated in Ezekiel 36:20,21. God, in his infinite omniscience, can imagine the people from other nations saying, “How can the God of Israel call himself loving and caring, yet will allow his people to be conquered and lose their land?” Ladies and gentlemen, as the Preacher in Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun. How many times have we heard those critical of Christianity say, “How can a good and loving God allow this suffering to happen to those people?” While this might be a question humans struggle with, the omniscient God has the answer. The Lord has the solution. God’s solution to this problem is to vindicate, or avenge, his name. How God will vindicate his name extends all the way to the end of the chapter, but we’re going to focus in on verses 22  to 32, since that paragraph contains our verse.

Ezekiel 36:22-32 

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

In seminary, I typically have to read about four or five books, averaging about 300 pages, per class. If I have two classes, you can double that workload. And I have to do get that done in four months. So sometimes reading every line of every pages just isn’t feasible. So my seminary professors taught me how to speed read. Perhaps you are familiar with the method. You read the first line and the last line of each paragraph because those lines have the main point of the author. Everything in between is details that reinforce that main point. God really wants to make his point clear, for he pretty much repeats his main point at the beginning, verse 22, and the end, verse 32. Verse 22 reads, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came,” and verse 32 reads, “It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.” Notice the similarities? God wants Israel to know that they did nothing to deserve the blessings they will receive. Rather, God merely blesses Israel to hold up his end of the covenant and demonstrate his love and faithfulness to his people. Instead of waiting for Israel’s obedience, God’s love and blessings should motivate Israel to fulfill their end of the covenant and obey! Perhaps our verse will help Israel do just that.
 

God will help Israel do just that by giving them a new heart, a heart of flesh. Now the flesh in “heart of flesh” does not have the same weight as the New Testament term for flesh (sarx, if you’re familiar with the Greek) does. In the New Testament, flesh means corrupt or fallen, but not in this Old Testament context. The “heart of flesh” contrasts the “heart of stone” earlier in the verse. Note the irony in this text. The Israelites have worshipped gods of stone, and therefore the Israelites’ hearts had become like that gods they worshipped: hard like stone. Therefore, God will give them “hearts of flesh,” hearts less like the idols and more like the true God. God will will soften their hearts. How will God soften their hearts? He will give them his spirit, the Holy Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit gets in there and gives Israel a new heart, a heart made of flesh, everything else will come naturally, as natural as the flowing of the paragraph the verse is in. Once Israel gets a new heart, a heart of flesh with the Holy Spirit inside, the Holy Spirit will help them obey the Law given to them. Once Israel obeys the Law, the condition of the covenant, Israel will once again receive the blessing promised, such as the Promised Land of Israel, and not just the land, but the a healthy and fruitful land. Then a cycle will begin. The blessings Israel receives will remind Israel of God’s faithfulness to the covenant, which will cause them to be faithful to the covenant. When Israel is faithful to the covenant, they will be blessed even more. The cycle goes on and on.
 

At this point, you might be thinking, “But I’m not Israel, and so this is not my covenant. What does this have to do with me?” Ah, but it is your covenant. I agree with many scholars when I say that I believe this is a prophecy of the New Covenant, the covenant that Jesus established with the church. In the New Covenant, Jesus offers a new heart! In the medical field, what you call it when a new heart replaces the old, bad heart? A heart transplant! A heart transplant, or cardiac transplant, is a surgery a working heart of a recently deceased donor heart is placed is the body of someone who needs a new heart. The first heart transplant was performed in 1967. In the first ten years of heart transplants, only 300 were performed. Now, almost ten times as many, about 3,500, heart transplants happen every year worldwide. Maybe you know one of those people who had a heart transplant. If you don’t former vice president Dick Cheny had a heart transplant. But this isn’t a physical heart transplant. This is a spiritual heart transplant. If you do not believe in Jesus, Jesus is offering you a spiritual heart transplant. If you believe in Jesus, Jesus has already performed a spiritual heart transplant, and he has given you a new heart!

What does this new heart look like in the believer?  First, the new heart brings about restoration and reconciliation. When the exiles finally returned home, the exiles knew God restored his relationship with the people. The evidence God provides Christians of a new heart is a spiritual change. Just like visitors of a foreign land coming home, we leave behind the desires of the world and the rebellion that demands we have it our way in order to seek God for forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration. Second, a new heart has been washed clean from sin. Note in verse 25 of Ezekiel 36 that God wants to generally clean Israel of all its uncleanliness, but He also wants to cleanse Israel of specific sins they have committed, like idol worship. When Jesus gives you a spiritual heart transplant, he cleanses you not only in general, like your sinful nature, but he also cleanses you specifically of each and every sin. It doesn’t matter if that sin is past, present or future. Know for certain that when Jesus gives you a spiritual heart transplant, each and every sin has been scrubbed clean from your heart. Not a sin has been missed. Third, as I mentioned before and I will mention again, a new heart has the Holy Spirit within it. Radical spiritual change cannot happen without the Holy Spirit. Cleansing of sin cannot happen without the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36:27 tells that the Holy Spirit is the only way we can even have a hope in following the Law. All this is only possible with the Holy Spirit. So naturally, it only make sense that a new heart has the Holy Spirit. Know that the Holy Spirit is there to guide you and to help you. Fourth, the new heart brings about a whole new relationship with God. Israel’s exile into a foreign land has deep symbolism. If Israel wanted to worship the idols of the enemy, then Israel would become part of the enemy and be exiled into their land. When God brings them back to their land, they are no longer the enemy, but rather, God’s people and God’s children. Paul in Romans makes it clear that when we are in sin, we are enemies of the holy God. When Jesus gives us a spiritual heart transplant, we are no longer enemies of God’ but you are a child of God. Finally, when Jesus gives us a spiritual heart transplant, that new heart hates to sin. As I said earlier, when Israel would see God’s faithfulness to the covenant, it would encourage them to fulfill their end of the covenant by not sinning. Similarly, when Jesus gives us a spiritual heart transplant, the new heart should hate sin. Our hearts should look always to avoid sin. When our heart faces temptation to sin, it fights it. When we do accidently mess up and sin, our heart immediately sets out to seek repentance. Just like eating something disgusting, sin should cause such a bitterness in us that we would wish to spit it out.

 

The truth is we all need spiritual heart transplant. Some of us still have dirty hearts, tainted from sin. Some of us have rebellious hearts, not wanting to submit to the lordship of our heavenly father. Some of us have a broken heart, still broken from broken relationships, which have hurt our relationship with God. If you have never have believed in Jesus as your lord and savior, your heart is dying in sin. You need a spiritual heart plant. Only Jesus is the surgeon who can take out that old, sinful heart and give you a new, clean heart. If you have never made the decision to believe in Jesus, make that decision today. If you have made that decision, Jesus has performed the spiritual heart transplant, and He has given you a new heart. But transformation and restoration isn’t a once and done thing. Our hearts are still in repair. Let that Holy Spirit inside your new heart convict you, and ask God for what needs to still be made new within you. If you lack evangelism, ask Jesus for a heart for the lost. If you need to spiritual grow, or see a need for spiritual growth in others, ask for a heart of discipleship and mentorship. If you find yourself apathetic to a person in need, ask for a loving a caring heart. If you find yourself struggling to practice your faith beyond Sunday, ask for a passionate heart.

Earlier, I mentioned Dick Cheny as the example of a heart transplant. Dick Cheny’s heart transplant was a peculiar one. Dick Cheny had to wait 20 months to get his new heart, over twice the waiting time for a heart transplant. Perhaps Cheny had to wait for so long due to his condition. At the time, Dick Cheny was seventy-one years old. He was in frail health, due to five heart attacks spanning over forty years. His heart transplant caused much controversy. Shouldn’t a heart transplant be given to someone younger and in better health? The heart transplant Jesus offers is nothing like that. There’s age limit or health check-up; God gives a spiritual heart transplant to anyone! There’s no waiting list; God gives anyone a spiritual heart transplant immediately upon asking for one. So come, ask for a new heart, and then embrace it.

Acknowledgements: I am grateful and thankful to Pastor John Blackburn, Spiritual Formation Pastor at Olathe Bible Church in Olathe, Kansas, for his sermon "A New Heart Within You," which he originally preached at Olathe Bible Church in Olathe, Kansas on April 15, 2012, for it gave me ideas for this sermon.

The Parable of the Cheerleader and Tim Dietrich

The Parable of the Cheerleader and Tim Dietrich: A Contemporary, Modern-Day Re-Telling of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

There are two types of teenagers in this world. The teenagers who puberty is friendly towards, and the teenagers who puberty is not so friendly towards.

Sherry McQueen was one of the teenagers who puberty was friendly towards. Almost literally overnight, puberty had turned this girl into a woman. She sprouted up to six feet tall, a height that made both boys and girls jealous of her. She had curves in all the right places, giving her that perfect hourglass-shaped body. Her naturally blonde hair now had a bright shine to it. Her teeth came in straight and shined a radiant pearly white, like she was wearing a set of bleached dentures. And somehow, her skin remained blemish free. In fact, she could easily get a light bronze tan, one that would last for days. All in all, anyone who didn’t know Sherry McQueen, but saw a photo of her, would have thought that her picture was a photoshopped cover of a Seventeen magazine.

Sherry’s new looks gave her new confidence. With her new confidence, Sherry tried out for the high school cheerleading team. Not only did Sherry make the squad, she was soon elected by her fellow cheerleaders as the cheer captain. Her new status, on top of her new looks, quickly shot up her popularity in her high school, until she was the most popular girl in school. She quickly found out that her popularity got her privileges. She got to sit anywhere in the cafeteria. Sometimes people would bring her lunch to her, and some would even pay for her lunch! Every boy would flirt with her, so she got first pick of what boys to date. Each boy, flirting in his own special way, would give Sherry special treatment. Jock boys would carry her books for her from class to class. Nerdy boys would do her homework for her. Prep boys would buy her expensive gifts. Greaser boys would fix her car for her. Even the teachers liked Sherry so much, Sherry got special treatment from them, too! Sherry could easily get excused for showing up late for class, and she sometimes even got to leave early for no reason at all. As if the nerdy boys doing her homework wasn’t enough, some teachers would grade her on a curve or round up her grades, because, let’s face it, the football team and basketball team have no hope of winning of unless the cheerleading captain can lead the cheerleading squad in cheering on the fans. While at first the attention creeped her out, Sherry loved it and gladly accepted it. While Sherry hated school for the usual reasons teenagers hate school, she loved the social life she had there.

But alas, as I said earlier, there’s also the teenagers who puberty is not so friendly towards. Meet Tim Dietrich. Puberty indeed was not too friendly towards him. His growth spurt gave him a whole inch only. The freshman fifteen didn’t wait until college; Tim got it in his freshman year of high school. Being short, chubby, and on top of that, Italian American, would eventually earn him the nickname “Meatball.” The worst part was the acne, for it broke out as if he was having a second round of chicken pox. While Sherry’s good looks gave her confidence and positive attention, Tim’s looks gave him little attention, if any, and it was attention he did not want. Therefore, Tim kept to himself. Instead of spending time with people, he spent time with things. He became fascinated with flying, not just making model airplanes and model rockets, but also sending them into the air. Tim’s unique hobby, however, did not gain him any more friends in school. It just brought him more mocking and more ridicule from his classmates.

Sherry and Tim did know each other. They had a lot of classes together. Tim had once had reached out to Sherry. He had hoped if he could even become friends, his fellow classmates would be nicer to him. Perhaps it would have worked, if Tim would have given Sherry the homework answers that Sherry expected, just like all of her nerdy classmates. Tim may have not been the most moral person out there, but something felt unfair to him that he would do all the hard work to get the same grade as Sherry did. Sherry didn’t take too kindly to Tim’s refusal to do her homework. She joined in on the mocking and ridicule. The other teenagers at the school, not wanting to appear against Sherry, also joined in on her mocking and ridiculing, making Tim’s life even worse.

But alas, high school only takes up four years of a person’s life. Although those four years progressed differently for Sherry and Tim, both had the same end results. Both Sherry and Tim graduated.

It wouldn’t take long for Sherry to wish she didn’t graduate, for she missed high school more than she thought. At high school, she had a life of ease. After high school, she could not get it back. While classmates did Sherry’s homework, none of that mattered when it came to SAT scores. Sherry got a low SAT score. With low SAT score, combined with barely passing grades, Sherry could not get into any college except community college, and she barely got into that. There she found out fellow classmates would not do her homework and professors would not give her the same grading ease her high school teachers gave her. By the end of her fall semester, she had a 0.7 GPA, and by the end of the spring semester, her GPA was 0.5. Sherry dropped out of community college by the end of her freshman year. With no education and no prior job experience, the only job she could grab was the local burger joint, where she rotated between flipping burgers, washing dishes and working the cash register. She came home every day sweaty, stinky and a mess. She found her job gross and repulsive. Because of all this, a depression set in. She stopped caring for herself. Her hair no longer shined, but had become a dirty blonde, matted and knotted. Her teeth turned from white to the yellow her hair use to be. Working in a greasy environment, blemishes broke out, as if the acne part of puberty finally arrived. Without the looks, no men freely handed out gifts or services. The few who did would only use and abuse her. In fact, one such man got her pregnant, and he ran away from her immediately upon finding out. Now on top of all the adult responsibilities she had to learn to take on, she now had to be a single mother, too. Adult responsibilities and single motherhood cost a lot. She needed credit cards to keep up with the bills, which only left her with big credit card bills and bigger credit card debt. Sherry became depressed about life, and the best cure she knew of was drinking a few beers at the local bar, which only cured temporarily, but worsened the credit card debt.

One day, as Sherry watched the morning show, eating her breakfast before she drove off to work, the morning show host announced, “It was once thought of as a fantasy of science fiction movies and television shows, but this man has made the fantasy a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to the man who invented the flying car, Tim Dietrich!” Sherry’s head perked as she heard the name. She knew that name! Could it be that one kid from high school? How common could that name be? She watched as the man walked across the stage to shake the host’s hand. That was him! Sure, the body was slimmer and the face was acne free, but besides that, she could clearly tell it was him.

“So let’s start off with where it all began,” the host began. “Where did you get this idea?”

“From the Jetsons and Back to the Future of course!” Tim laughed at his own joke, and the host joined in laughing. “Seriously, though, I had always been fascinated with flying. As a kid, I made things that flew, from model airplanes to model rockets. When I got accepted into a university, I majored in aviation and aerodynamics. I even got my pilot’s license. I enjoyed flying my little plane, but I knew it was hard to get a pilot license, and I wanted everyone to enjoy this experience. So I thought of ways everyone could enjoy it. Since most adults have their driver’s license, why not turn the car into a plane?”

“Now I know many car companies had offered you a job so your patent could be used on their cars. Not only have American companies like Ford, Dodge and Chevy, but also international car companies liked Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. Why did you end up choosing Ford?” the host asked Tim.

“Besides the fact, that Ford offered to make me a billionaire, while all the others just offered to make me a millionaire?” Tim again laughed at himself, and the host laughed, too. “Well, I obviously wanted to keep it in the U.S.A. to keep jobs in the country and keep the American economy flowing. But for which company to choose, I chose Ford because when I think of Ford, I think of the inventor of the car. I think of my job as re-inventing the car, and I just wanted to keep Mr. Ford’s legacy alive.”

What? A billionaire? Sherry was in shock. Yeah, she knew Tim knew his science pretty well from science class, but he didn’t seem to be a nerdy genius, compared to other kids in school. She never thought someone big would come out of her small high school in her small town, either. It must have be nice, though, she thought, to not have to worry about money like she did.

“So how does it feel to be the most eligible bachelor in your home city of Detroit?” the host asked with a smirk. Tim laughed a long time to deal with the awkward question, and then he answered, “I haven’t thought about it. I think about when I land in Detroit this evening in my flying Porsche this afternoon,” Tim said with a wink.

Detroit? He lived in Detroit? Why, Sherry lived in a suburb right outside Detroit! Detroit was just an hour or two away from her home. Despite their old high school being miles away, they had somehow managed to be so close. Then, an idea entered in Sherry’s mind. She had to meet with Tim, or at least talk with him. Perhaps when they talked, a romantic spark might happen between the two. Or maybe they could just be friends, friends enough that Tim would have pity on her to help pay off her credit card debt. All during her work shift, Sherry planned what she would say and what she would do to win Tim over. The second her shift was over, she rushed home. She looked up Tim’s number. Only finding his office number, she gave the office number a call.

“Good day,” a female voice at the end of line spoke. “You’ve reached the office of Tim Dietrich. This is Angela, his secretary and person assistant speaking. How may I assist you?” Sherry was caught off guard by the female voice, expecting to hear Tim’s voice, but once she came to realize it was his administrative assistant, she spoke. “My name is Sherry McQueen.”

“Are you the one with CBS? ABC? NBC? FOX?” Angela quickly chimed in. “Sorry, with all these reporters asking for an interview, it’s hard to keep track of all of you.”

“No,” said Sherry. “I’m not with any news group.”

“Then are you one of the lab assistants working with Mr. Dietrich on one of his projects?” Angela asked.

“No, I’m not a lab assistant, either,” Sherry said. “I know him from high school.”

“Um, ok? Is this about a class reunion or something?” Angela asked, confused.

 
“No, I just want to see him, maybe over coffee?” Sherry said.

“Ma’am,” Angela said politely, “Mr. Dietrich does not have time for ‘coffee.’ If he wants a coffee, he has me run to get him one. He spends most of his time in his lab, inventing technology that will advance the human. When he’s not in the lab, he’s constantly in either in meetings or interviews. He barely has enough time for his hobbies, like going to the gym. If he can’t enjoy hobbies, he definitely does not have time for chit chat.”

“Well, can I at least talk to him over the phone?” Sherry asked. “Just mention it’s Sherry McQueen. He’ll remember!” Sherry insisted.

“Funny,” Angela said, trying to maintain professionalism. “I don’t ever remember Mr. Dietrich ever mentioning a Sherry McQueen in all the years I have worked for him. In fact, every time someone mentions high school, he becomes quiet and ignores the subject. If he doesn’t have any positive memories of high school, I don’t want to bring any bad memories back into his life. It might throw him off from his work.”

 

“Please!” Sherry insisted. “I’m in bad debt and I need help!”

 

“Ugh, not another one of you,” Angela groaned. Then her voice became stern. “Now listen here! I don’t know how many distant relatives or long lost friends have called asking for money, and you’re just another one of them. You should be ashamed of yourself, you…you…shameless hussy! Don’t call again, or I’ll have the police trace the line and arrest you for harassment. But if you need advice, I’ll give you some. Get a job! And if that’s not enough, get another one!” Angela hung up on her.

 

All Sherry could do was hang up the phone and sob uncontrollably.