"Scandal of Grace" at Harderwyk - Luke 13:18-21 - January 23, 2022

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher

I. New For This Week

Our focus on Sunday will primarily be the parable of the sower but stuck between is a somewhat confusion word from Jesus where he quotes Isaiah 6.  Capon explains this text in a helpful way distinguishing between prescriptive and descriptive meanings.

“Then follow two startling statements.  The first is ‘for to him who has, more will be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’ This seems to me to be one of those hard sayings of Jesus that cries out, not for a prescriptive interpretation, but for a descriptive one.  Jesus, though he could be taken as issuing a statement about what God will do to reward or punish those who hear the parables, seems to be more reasonably understood as giving a simple description of the way things are. ‘If you grasp the fact that the kingdom works in a mystery,’ he seems to say, ‘then that very grip will give you more and more understanding; but if you don’t grasp that, then everything that happens will make it look as if your plausibility-loving understanding is being deliberately taken from you.’” (Capon, p.58) 

“The second startling statement is another hard saying that likewise makes little sense if given a simplistic, prescriptive interpretation.  Jesus justifies his use of parables by quoting Isaiah: ‘So that they may look and look, yet not see, and listen and listen, yet not understand… lest they should turn again and be forgiven.’ Once again, this is not the announcement of a divine double-cross by which God is going to trick people into a situation where he can finally zap them with condemnation instead of forgiveness (a notion, incidentally, that goes clean against the heart of the Gospel). Rather, it is another one of those sad, head-shaking reflections on the way things are. Jesus think about the obtuseness he sees all around him – about the unlikelihood of anybody’s getting even a glimmer of the mystery, let alone a grip on it – and the passage from Scripture pops into his mind as the perfect summary: “Isaiah really had it right,’ he thinks, and then he simply recites the verses out loud.” (Capon, p. 59

Video from BibleProject that explains well this theme of the Kingdom and how the Gospel reframes that idea in the scriptures.  CLICK HERE

Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline.

II. From The Commentaries On This Passage

From Matthew For Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 by NT Wright on the Isaiah 6 passage Jesus quotes in Matthew 13: "So why, they wondered, was Jesus telling these stories that people could only partly understand? Why wasn’t he rousing the crowds to action? Why was he making them think and not telling them the answers? We can feel their frustration, like a child wanting the tree to be fully grown straight away. ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’

Jesus’ answer is almost as confusing and disturbing as the parable itself. He takes them back once again to the prophets, to a passage in the book of Isaiah which spoke of the reaction the prophet knew his words would provoke. The Israel of his day was wicked and hard-hearted, and, though his message did indeed contain the promise of salvation, that promise could only come true on the other side of an awesome judgment. The great trees would have to come down before the new shoot could start to grow (Isaiah 10:33–11:3). God would cut the tree down, and prune it further and further, until there was only a stump left; but he would then reveal that there was new life hidden in the stump (Isaiah 6:9–13).

And what was that life? ‘The holy seed’ (6:13). Jesus quotes the very passage in which the prophet promises that one day, many years hence, a new seed, a new shoot, would arise, bringing mercy the other side of judgment. And he does so in order to explain the reason for telling all these stories about—yes—seeds."

III. Ongoing Resources

1) Spiritual Formation Resources Page - CLICK HERE - This is still a work in progress, but be a part as we look to build.

2) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE - to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith.  You will see an option to have them delivered to your email inbox each day as well.  

3) Simple Lectio Divina Overview - CLICK HERE - for a simple introduction of the spiritual practice of a more personal way of experience the Word through contemplation and reflection.