If Mark 4 is a familiar chapter for you, you should be doing a double take at my title above; or saying, poor old bloke, his memory is starting to go. I’m clearly getting the Parable of the Sower, which ends with verse 20, mixed up with the saying about the lamp, which begins at verse 21.

Or does it? As I have mentioned a time or two already, the section titles (and chapter breaks, and even verse divisions) can deceive us into seeing beginnings and endings that aren’t actually there. As I look at these verses in my (unadorned) Greek version, verses 21 to 23 look like a summary reflection on Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Sower. Here’s why.

As I suggested in the Seeing the Kingdom book, when you receive a word about, say, healing and let it lodge in the soil of your heart, so that it grows up into a fully mature plant there, that is you receiving your healing. But then that plant produces fruit, 30- 60- or 100-fold; and that is other people receiving their healing because they see what happened for you. (Specifically, how a word from God received into your heart and kept there produced healing for you.)

So what is the saying about the lamp? Jesus is simply enlarging on this theme. The seed that you receive was never just about you; it was always so that your blessing could be multiplied to others. Who would bring a lamp into a room to hide it under the bucket? And who would hide a seed in the ground so that it would never be seen again. Actually you hide a seed in the ground so that something much bigger may appear, which in time will carry a whole number of seeds identical to the original one. If you are struggling with the idea, just think of the wheat plant as a green menorah, a lamp stand for multiplied seeds.

“To you has been given the secret of the Kingdom;” yes but: the intention was never to keep it a secret forever. Whatever has been hidden is only so that it can be made manifest. There is a time for secrecy; but it comes to an end.

So for the disciples, as for us, there is a time to keep the word hidden while it works in us. But when it has done its work and brought change, it is lamp stand time!

καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· Βλέπετε τί ἀκούετε. ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε μετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν καὶ προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν.

Mark 4.24 SBL Greek New Testament

Heard a really great talk on vv21-23 this morning, particularly focusing on the connection between bringing the lamp of the word into the room, and seeing things that were hidden in order to be seen. And before you jump to the wrong conclusion, it wasn’t about esoteric hidden things; it was the stuff you and I need to know in order to get our assignments done. The practical plans for doing the impossible set before us.

In the process of looking at the passage afterwards and making sure I had absorbed the message, I was looking at the notes I had written for myself some time back on verse 24. I touched on this briefly in the ‘Seeing the Kingdom’ book, but I think it bears repeating.

And He said to them, “See what you hear. In whatever measure you measure with it will be measured for you, and imputed to you.”

Mark 4.24, my rendering

So firstly, I see no justification for the NIV’s oblique “consider carefully what you hear…” Jesus wasn’t an English politician. I understand why they did this, but my view is that they have missed Jesus’ very concrete meaning.

Hearing the word is necessary but, by itself, inadequate. In another context Jesus said that hearing His words and not doing them is like building a house straight on the sand in a wadi. Hearing and doing, on the other hand is like digging down to the rock and setting the foundations on that rock.

In the current context, the necessary additional step is not doing but seeing. Or is it actually the step between hearing and doing? The back end of the verse gives us the clue.

”In whatever measure you measure with it will be measured for you, and imputed to you.”

What is the connection with seeing? Easy. If you hear, for example, the word about the goodness and generosity of God; but in your heart, you picture remains one of lack, what measure will you measure with? It will still be the measure of lack and scarcity you would taught from birth. As a result, what you receive will also be determined by lack and scarcity, and you will conclude that God’s generosity is a mostly metaphorical one.

But if you allow what you hear to determine what you see, so that you are able to start acting out of the same goodness and generosity you know God has towards you, then your experience will also change. You will experience that goodness and generosity as a practical reality.

So is “See what you hear” an important statement. In my notes on this verse I had written this:

“Don’t just hear it, SEE what that looks like. What Jesus says to you is MEANT TO CHANGE WHAT YOU SEE. Followed by measure you use will be used for you, and he who has will get more, who hasn’t will lose it. THIS IS THE DOORWAY THROUGH WHICH KINGDOM “GOODS” COME INTO THE EARTH REALM.”

And to explain what I mean by ‘Kingdom “goods”’, I don’t just mean receiving your new car or whatever else you have need of, although it clearly includes these; but this is actually about how what you hear becomes concrete experience. Forgiveness as a way of life? You can hear about forgiveness every day, but until you see it you will neither experience it, nor be able to mete it out to others. Wisdom? Success? Prosperity? Until you can see yourself in the picture with those attributes, say hello to the same old ‘don’t know what to do, missing the boat, life of lack’ you have been enjoying (if that is the word) all your life.

And please note, I am just telling you what the Man said.

So next time you hear the words of Jesus, ask yourself, “if I actually believed this, what would my picture look like?”

You may be surprised by the results.

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4:26-29, NIV

At the risk of repeating myself, I don’t understand how a community with such a commitment to verbal inspiration, pays so little attention to the specific meaning of words. It seems to me that each time we are just a little off-beam with the way we render a word, the net result is complete passages of scripture which are in danger of pointing in the wrong direction.

The passage above, from Mark 4, is by no means the most extreme example of this; and yet when we sharpen the language a little, I certainly find the picture far more gripping.

So here is my rendering, deliberately left with its awkward rough edges:

And He said, “The Kingdom of God is like this, like a man should cast the sowing upon the earth, and should he lie down or get up, night and day, the sowing sprouts (or possibly, comes to light) and lengthens – how, he doesn’t know.

Acting of itself, the earth bears fruit, first the fodder (ie the green crop), then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

But when the fruit is set (literally “fastened alongside“), immediately he sends the scythe, because the harvest is standing there right next to him.”

A few notes of interest, in the order they appear.

First, τὸν σπόρον is not seed, it is “the sowing” (i.e. “the store of seed to be sown); which I admit is not common usage in modern English, although we do have “the harvest” (in the sense of “what has been harvested”) for the other end of the cycle. Does this matter? Well, it matters that we understand that the man didn’t go out with half a dozen seeds he found in his pocket and throw them on the ground. This is the major commercial and financial commitment of his farming year; until this moment he could change his mind and use the seed for food, but now he is all in: once cast on the ground, the sowing is his future crop and no longer accessible as a current store of seed. So yes, I think this does matter.

The picture continues : “sprouts and grows” is okay, but really we are meant to see the first green hue as the sowing breaks surface and starts to get longer and more obviously a growing green crop against the brown or grey soil.

The Greek is always specific – “all by itself, the soil” lacks the force of “acting of itself, the earth”. Of course, we do now realise that the soil is an active and indispensable partner in this process, not an inert matrix. And for the farmer, the first stage of growth represents ‘an option’: it is indeed fodder, and could be used as such. But of course he won’t, except in the most dire circumstances. This sowing is not for cattle feed, it is for grain. And that is still two steps away. No point harvesting the ears when they are yet to fill with grain. Farming is waiting.

But when the desired fruit is set – “secured alongside” – the cycle of “sleeping and getting up and not knowing how” ends. The farmer sees the harvest – as concrete and commercially significant as his sowing – standing alongside him.

And he immediately sends, not the sickle (δρέπανη) but the scythe (δρέπανον). If you don’t understand the huge significance of this one, Google “sickle versus scythe” and you should see some videos from India comparing the efficacy of these two technologies. Sickles are definitely for those who threw a few seeds (or who have no other option); scythes are the combine harvester of the ancient world.

And my overarching point would be: when you mean business – as we must in the Kingdom of God – send a scythe. And if you have cast a serious commitment in God’s word onto the soil of your heart and are waiting with expectancy until you arrive at the day where you realise your harvest is fully secured and standing right alongside you: don’t dawdle one moment. Immediately, send the scythe!

[If you have run into the curious fiction that scythes were unknown in Israel, Iron Age scythes, plural, have been recovered from a 332BC site at Nahal Tut as described in American Journal of Archaelogy, vol 100 no 4 Oct 1996 in the summary Archaelogy in Israel by Samuel R Wolff)]

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

John 6:25-27, NIV

This is part of a strange sort of passage, which begins with the crowd asking a very indirect question (“when did you get here”, by which they mean how did you get here?) Jesus then answers the question they aren’t asking, but should be. If you follow the conversation to its end, the crowd go steadily backwards until one is left wondering if they even remember the ‘miracle’ they experienced on the previous day.

(And for the avoidance of doubt, I put apostrophes around ‘miracle’ because this is just the normal operation of Kingdom law.)

The first thing we should notice here is that Jesus isn’t correcting them like a Victorian schoolmarm. Maybe it is just me, but I can’t hear the English translations except in that tone of voice. And I think Jesus is saying something a lot more positive. He is helping them make sense of their experience.

“You haven’t crossed the lake to find me because you saw a sign – even though if someone asks you, that is probably what you are going to say.” (As we will see, they are obsessed with ‘signs’)

“Think about it: you are actually here because you ate the bread, and were satisfied like grass-fed cattle” (That is a literal rendering of ἐχορτάσθητε). I think the implication is “and that felt pretty good, didn’t it!”

Not for the first time, Jesus is taking the role of a coach, which means starting with what the person has actually experienced, helping them to make sense of that; and then taking them beyond that to a growth opportunity. (see the post, “Peter gets it!” for another clear example of Jesus as Coach.)

To understand what that growth opportunity looks like, it will help if we get more accurate in our translation. “Do not work for food that spoils…” is way too far off piste. ἐργάζεσθε (ἐργάζομαι, and here used transitively, ie with “the food, the one that perishes” as a direct object) is most commonly used in contexts relating to the growing or gathering of food (also of gathering stone, of quarrymen). “Work for” is not possible in this context.

A direct literal rendering is not easy, but certainly something like “put your energy into gathering, not the food which perishes, but the food which remains into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

So together, that is “you are here because you had a great feed yesterday, and that was pretty good, no? But don’t stop there, the same person who fed you yesterday can give you something even better, food that will carry you into eternal life. So put your effort into making sure you gather that!”

And there is even a food market piece of humour to underline this reading; seal it, I should say.

I am prepared to guarantee that most of us read “For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” and just think, well of course. It is a religious statement and should therefore not be questioned or looked into too deeply.

Which is a pretty funny way to think. Jesus is not religious, and He never makes empty religious statements. I wish I could say as much of us.

Seals are not generally part of our working life in the 21st Century. Actually, they are, but now we call them “digital signatures”. Like digital signatures, seals were mostly used in making legal declarations, most often in the context of trade and business. Putting your seal on something expressed your willingness to be held responsible for the quality of the product or information so sealed.

Growers of grain for example, would set their seal on the closure of each sack. Liddell & Scott (my go to Greek Lexicon) cites an example of σφραγίζω (the verb used here) being used of some setting their seal upon a sample of grain. In others words, they are sealing the sample in order to say “if you purchase my shipment, it will exactly match the quality of this sample.”

So now, ask yourself, what does it mean for God The Father to have “set His seal upon this one”, this one meaning the Son of Man “who will give you food that lasts to eternal life?”

Surely it is His guarantee that – at the very least! – the food that remains to eternal life will be of the same quality as the wonderful food and filling that they have already experienced.

Which is a very relevant promise for all of us who have begun to experience the goodness of God, and not in the least an empty religious statement.

And most importantly: happy and satisfied? Hold on to that thought; your experience of the Kingdom will be exactly like that.

Εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ…

John 4:10 excerpt, SBL Greek Testament

Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. He tells her to give Him a drink, which clearly surprises her; as John says, Jews don’t make use of (συγχρῶνται) Samaritans.

And then Jesus replies, with the words above: “If you knew the gift of God…” (NIV and many other translations)

Which is correct-ish, but nonetheless misleading. If you are thinking of a beautifully wrapped box under the Christmas tree, think again.

δωρεὰν (dōre’an) is ‘gift’ but in the older sense of “it was within his gift”, meaning a substantial benefit which the King or other ruler was able to bestow. Specifically we find it in the sense of the grant of an estate, privileges and immunities.

The full sentence reads in the NIV

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Because Jesus goes on to speak of living water, we make the connection, “oh, this is (just) the Gift of the Spirit” – and miss the whole point.

Jesus is speaking to a non Jew and telling her that if she understood the Kingdom (an estate, with privileges and immunities – immunity from the kingdom of the world, its demands and its corruption) which God freely bestows, and if she knew who Jesus was, she would ask and He would give her living water to drink.

Yes, Jesus is indeed referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit, but He is saying that receiving Him, ie the Spirit, is her access point to enter into, and enjoy the free gift of the Kingdom. An estate, with privileges and immunities. An offer good even for a Samaritan woman with an very complicated past.

An offer good even for you and me.

Jesus never speaks in religious platitudes. We need to stop hearing Him as if He was.

Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

Matt 8:21-23, NIV

It never ceases to amaze me how much we are all affected by the artificial divisions of Biblical passages (artificial because they post-date the actual writing of the Gospels by centuries or even millennia). To use the technical term, we read the Gospels as a collection of “gobbets” instead of as a continuous narrative. And of course, there are some clear “episodes”; but the layout of our bibles tends to dictate how we see these.

And here is an example. Seeing the crowds surrounding Him, Jesus has given orders to cross to the other side (of the Lake). On the way, He has short interactions with a scribe and then with someone described as ἕτερος δὲ τῶν μαθητῶν, “another of the disciples”. In English this suggests the possibility that the scribe was a disciple as well; but let us focus on this “other” disciple for now.

In our bibles, verse 22 ends a gobbet; verse 23 is the start of a new passage. I disagree.

The context of what the disciple asks is not (as we often seem to read it) just a general “I will follow you at some later date, but first let me do such and such.” Jesus has given orders to cross the Sea of Galilee; and that is the context to this request: “first let me go and honour my Father with funeral rites”. (And then I will join you over the other side.)

It has often be argued, by those missing the context, that the disciple is speaking in general terms, ie when at some point my father is dead and buried, I will follow you then; and of course this reading is possible. But the immediate reading is far more likely, because of what happens next.

Jesus tells him to “let the dead honour their own dead with funeral rites, and you follow me.” And climbing into a boat, His disciples follow Him.

Where is this “other disciple“ now? Unless he flat out disobeyed Jesus’ command (for which there is no evidence), then he is, pretty clearly, in the boat with Jesus.

Which means that very shortly he will be shouting, along with his fellow disciples, “save Lord, we are being destroyed.” And being given a lesson in “don’t be cowards: you tell it to STOP!” (see the Seeing the Kingdom book for a whole chapter on this passage).

Now pan back. Instead of joining the dead in honouring their own dead, this disciple finds himself facing his own imminent demise, and all because Jesus said “you, you follow me”. But in the process he learns a lesson about the difference between the Kingdom of this world, and the Kingdom of God. In the former, we endure the inevitable – loss, grief, separation and so on.

But in God’s Kingdom we call the shots, even – and especially – when the enemy launches an attack. And that is a lesson he would have missed if he had acted on his natural human instinct rather than obeying Jesus’ real-time command to “follow Me!”

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:18-20, NIV

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. It is a comforting thought, especially when you are out at the coal face, battling the forces of the Enemy. “When this is all over, and I arrive in heaven, they will find my name in the register…” The ultimate security.

And of course that is true – the Father’s house has many mansions / dwellings / apartments, and you are expected. But I doubt that is what Jesus is focused on here. And it is about focus.

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The one you are up against knows heaven and lost it all. (And remember, he would like you to suffer the same fate.)

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” I have instructed you and commissioned you to do what you have been doing, and you can’t be stopped.

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Don’t get carried away. Remember (and rejoice) that you are citizens of the Kingdom of the Heavens, which – yes – is why you can see demons submit; but right here and right now, your citizenship of the Kingdom is about so much more than simply casting out demons. Your assignment will inevitably include building (something – a family, a ministry, a business, something a lot bigger than you) and will require you knowing how to access health and provision and wisdom. So rejoice that you have access to the Kingdom – right here, and right now.

And if you need a warning, as well as an encouragement: demons will happily take the hit now, if it means they can draw your focus after them. If you for too long just rejoice that demons submit to you, the day will come when the tables turn because you have lost your connection with the King and His Kingdom. And then who will help you?

So focus on where your names are written as citizens, now. And rejoice in that!

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Luke 7:11-17, NIV

We were on our way back from a walk on the beach, and Sarah was driving; which left my mind free to wander a little. Suddenly I said, “hold on, Jesus raises the dead son of the widow of Nain: where is the ‘point of faith’?”

What I meant was, in every single episode where Jesus heals (or indeed, does any other ‘miracle’), there is always a point of faith, where someone other than Jesus is finding agreement with what He, and therefore Heaven, says. Whether at this point you believe me or not, please read through the Gospels and see how true this is. Famously, the one time we hear about Jesus unable to work miracles (Mark 6:5-6, Matt 13:58), it was because of the lack of faith of the people of his hometown. He was amazed because faith isn’t the macho, self-conscious thing we often portray it as: it just means being even the slightest bit persuaded that Jesus can and will do what He says; and the people of Nazareth mostly couldn’t even produce that – despite their need for healing.

And this matters because the same applies to us – we are meant to do the same works as Jesus did, and greater; but we need to learn to see this ‘point of faith’. It may not be the person who needs healing who has it, but someone who has authority in their life needs to have even the smallest mustard seed of agreement with us and heaven for healing to happen.

And in the car, I ran the reel of memory covering the widow of Nain story. Jesus comes to a village, meets a procession where the only son of a widow is being carried out to burial; Jesus goes to the bier, speaks to the young man and raises him.

No ‘point of faith.’

Maybe it is the exception, where Jesus just raised the dead, because He felt sorry for the already-widowed mother? But this is about law: there are no exceptions. If there are exceptions, then there is no law. If the law of gravity worked most of the time, but once in a while you could just float up into the trees, then it would no longer be the law of gravity. At best it would be a tendency. But kingdoms run on laws, not tendencies, and the Kingdom of Heaven most of all.

As soon as we got home, I grabbed my bible, found the passage – and let out a shout. There are actually two points of faith in our passage. One follows on from the other. In this sense the lesser ‘point of faith’ is that those bearing the dead man stopped when Jesus put His hand on the bier (they could have shaken Him off and kept going).

But here is what I was looking for:

“When the Lord saw [the Widow],… he said, “Don’t cry.”

How have you been hearing that “Don’t cry”? Like Tom Hanks telling Meg Ryan “don’t cry, little shop girl…” in “You’ve got mail”? That would be “don’t cry, we are happy, right?” I don’t think so. What about like someone who finds emotion expressed too hard to handle and just needs to shut it down? (“How can I solve this problem when you are crying like that and making all this fuss?”) The verse says that He felt compassion for her (ὁ κύριος ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ’ αὐτῇ) so: also “no”.

Jesus always spoke with authority. Remember, He was the one who said “let there be light”, and there was. We aren’t told exactly what happened, but you can be sure that if the Widow had merely wailed all the louder, we would never have heard the story, nor would she have received her son back alive. And that matters because, with her son dead and unable to respond (and, being dead, legally unable to respond to any instructions given him in the earth realm), she was the person with the authority over his dead body. If her response to Jesus was “no, he is dead and I will never speak with him again…” then Jesus would have had to turn away. As Jesus well knew, if He had simply spoken to the dead man and instructed him to get up – nothing would have happened.

No, when Jesus spoke “don’t cry” to her, something happened: she stopped crying and believed that somehow Jesus could fix this. That is the “point of faith”; not necessarily knowing what can happen next, but trusting that Jesus is going to do something and changing her posture in obedience to His command.

And in case it isn’t clear, this is a million miles (or further) from what most of us do when faced with a life-threatening illness or situation – which is to say “God knows what He is doing, and He can heal if He chooses.” That is philosophic resignation, and results in healing exactly 0% of the time. (If you think you know an example where God healed anyway, trust me, you just haven’t identified the person who exercised faith, and how. This is law!) What the Widow of Nain did was hear a word from Jesus, receive and believe that word, and obey it. I suspect the bearers stopped when Jesus touched the bier because they already knew something was up: the chief mourner had stopped mourning, and, we can guess, everyone else quietened down as a result. Despite the circumstances, there was a sudden air of expectation.

So what Jesus said to her – “don’t cry” – wasn’t polite convention, or frustration, or consolation or any other irrelevant thing. Like everything God speaks to us, it was a life and death instruction, and obeying it changed everything for the Widow of Nain – and her son.

(PS – in case you think Lazarus responded directly to Jesus without the involvement of another living person, look at what Jesus says to Martha in John 11.40: “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” And all that was required of her was to allow the removal of the stone from his tomb; very like “don’t cry” in terms of how hard it was. Hard emotionally, but practically, not so much!)

Δεῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς καὶ μάθετε ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν· ὁ γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.

Matt 11:28-30

This passage (“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden…”) is uncontroversial and generally well explained, but I have just been reflecting on how specific the language is. The translations are better English than I will attempt, I am just interested in the sense.

As endless commentators have noted, the picture is of a pack animal – probably an ox – struggling with a heavy load on its own, but finding peace when it is yoked with Jesus alongside. So here is my “sharpened” version.

Come here to me, all those growing weary and who have been weighed down; and I will make you stop.

Now, take up my yoke upon you, and learn from me (i.e. learn by walking in harness with me) because I am calming / taming and near you in heart, and you will find rest / repose / cadence for your life.

For my yoke is serviceable (i.e. is a good one) and my load is light in weight.

As a picture it is extraordinary. It only works (as indeed a yoke of oxen only works) if the two beasts are matched in size and strength. Jesus, the Son of Man, is fully a man, but “normal” in a way that hasn’t been seen since Adam fell. And yet, His offer to every man who is is struggling alone with too great a burden (roughly 100% of us), is that by coming to Him and taking up His yoke, we will be able to learn how to be normal too. And that is specifically because Jesus will play the role of the older wiser more experienced ox who calms His more skittish, distracted yoke-fellow and whose heart is on the same level. As a result we will find ourselves no longer driven by fear and anxiety and lack but able to enjoy, have rest and cadence to our lives, and yet also be delivering on assignment – a load which weighs lightly.

As a picture of the Kingdom life it is vivid and specific. We have struggled with all our might to achieve – what? A burden never delivered or removed. In partnership with Jesus, we learn rest – and get things done.

And here is the important part. Jesus will never partner with our current burdens. He is not at home to joining us in our struggle. Come to Him in all your struggle and weariness (your part) and He (His part)… He will make you stop.

No one puts a yoke on an already laden ox. Drop that load, take up My yoke upon you, learn from me; and you will learn how to fulfil your assignment from a position of calm and rest in your life. You will get far more done, with zero struggle. Work yes, struggle no.

Who wouldn’t want that?

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Luke 5:33-39, NIV

I have written about this passage before, but focussing on the statement at the end – simply making the point that this isn’t about old wine being obviously superior to new (which is what the NIV suggests), but rather that if you are working you way down a skin of old wine, you are likely to say “who cares about new wine, this stuff is okay…” Which is a different saying altogether – namely, “what you are familiar with tends to shut down your openness to what is new to you.”

I would like to focus on the beginning of the passage this time, and focus on two aspects: one, just how different Jesus’ disciples are from those of John or the Pharisees; and two, the extremely conditional nature of what Jesus says about the bridegroom being taken away.

It is worth also noticing that Jesus has already seen one of their objections off – “why are you eating with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replies that “You call a doctor for those who have problems, not those who are well.” So there is a change of tack, away from dinner guests and to the behaviour of the disciples.

In verse 33, the bystanders – Pharisees and scribes or their hangers-on – say:

Οἱ μαθηταὶ Ἰωάννου νηστεύουσιν πυκνὰ καὶ δεήσεις ποιοῦνται, ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ τῶν Φαρισαίων, οἱ δὲ σοὶ ἐσθίουσιν καὶ πίνουσιν.

The NIV has toned everything down; the contrast is actually exceptionally strong.

“The disciples of John fast πυκνὰ, and make entreaties…” (which could equally be, “the disciples of John fast and make entreaties, πυκνὰ”). So what is πυκνὰ?

Well, certainly not “often”. “Often” would get us to the two fasting days a week that the Pharisees apparently followed, or perhaps longer fasts once a month or every other month. πυκνὰ is an intense word; it refers to anything with its constituent parts tightly bound together, or for example, anything completely perforated with holes. The nearest we can get in context in English would be “constantly” – but “relentlessly” is definitely an option too. So here is a better rendering:

“The disciples of John fast and make prayers endlessly; and so also the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours (just) eat and drink!”

It is a black and white contrast. Hence the parables of the patch and the wineskins.

But what does Jesus say of the future? Does He in fact suggest that His disciples will end up fasting and making entreaties with the best of them (or even more than anyone?) Because that does seem to be how many have taken this passage: “Oh yes, for now it is right to rejoice, but there will be long years of faithful mourning ahead…”

So here is what Jesus says to them in verses 34 and 35:

Μὴ δύνασθε τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ νυμφῶνος ἐν ᾧ ὁ νυμφίος μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐστιν ποιῆσαι νηστεῦσαι; ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι, καὶ ὅταν ἀπαρθῇ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ὁ νυμφίος τότε νηστεύσουσιν ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις.

Three quick notes: “sons of the bridal-chamber” is some more intentional and meaningful periphrasis for what has become “the groomsmen” in modern parlance. υἱοὺς (sons) + something (that doesn’t obviously have sons) is a common formulation, especially in the LXX and other Hebraistic Greek literature.

Secondly, the phrase ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι stands alone here, and uses the future tense and middle voice. So the sense is “days will pass” (subject as both actor and acted upon).

Finally, “ὅταν ἀπαρθῇ” – ὅταν which is intensely conditional in force, practically “if it should ever be”; plus ἀπαρθῇ, which is 3rd sg aor subj pass, so “if it should ever be that be taken” (the bridegroom from them), then…

“It isn’t possible to make the sons of the bridal-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them. But days come and go, you know; and if it should happen that a day comes when the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast then in those days.”

(my rendering for sense)

Jesus is not prophesying a period of mourning for His disciples. It is more that He is saying “behaving like that wouldn’t be appropriate (or even possible) right now, but you know, things change, maybe in the future…”

And in doing so, He is once again telling the truth but not revealing the whole truth. We see Him speak more openly about the same thing in John 14 – “you are sad because I said I am going away, but your joy is going to be huge. Because you will see me again.” And even there, we sometimes speak as if this joy is saved up for the Second Coming, when in fact they would see him again in a few days, and be having breakfast with Him by the Lake in Galilee in a couple of weeks.

Did the disciples mourn when Jesus was taken away? Yes. They had three horrible, confusing days. Peter must have been beside himself, despite all the preparation Jesus had given him. But they saw Him again, and were beside themselves – for joy!

So what is appropriate for us? Mourning or rejoicing?

If you have been thinking that this whole “seeing the Kingdom” thing is trivial or a matter of words, think again. It absolutely sets the direction of our expectation. If you think we look back to a wonderful promise made, and then looking forward to something future so we can at last rejoice again, and in the meantime, fast and pray (and weep), that is just wrong. We have a Kingdom right now; and yes, there will be challenges, and yes, the future is even better; but we see Him now; His Spirit is in us.

So enough with the mourning, already. Fasting and praying and eating and drinking – knock yourself out, it is all lawful to you. Just understand the freedom, and the Kingdom, that you have.