More than just a dreamcoat
This week in Genesis we start the story of Joseph, known to many from Sunday school and to many more thanks to Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice. The human drama by itself is compelling – family favouritism and sibling jealousy, violence, deceit, false accusations, weird dreams and their interpretations, triumph out of disaster. No wonder it makes a great musical. But behind the human drama is the hand of God, preserving the descendants of Abraham in fulfilment of his covenant. At 45:5-7 Joseph tells his brothers: ‘… do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. … God sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’
In some ways Joseph foreshadows Jesus. Here’s a paragraph from Edmund Clowney’s book The Unfolding Mystery (subtitled Discovering Christ in the Old Testament):
‘Joseph was God’s righteous servant, suffering because of his faithfulness to God. Yet the path of suffering led to a throne and to the fulfillment of the word of God, given by the revelation of his dreams. God had made the life of Joseph a sign of the way in which his blessing would come. By the word of God and the servant of god, the mercy of God would be made known to the nations.’ (p. 82)
In Matthew this week we have a whole chapter of parables (chapter 13 – Matthew likes to group Jesus’ teachings together in chunks). Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, in their excellent book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, argue that the main function of parables is to call forth a response from the hearer. Here is what they say about the parable of the Sower:
‘… the point of the parable is the urgency of the hour: “Take heed how you hear. The word is being sown, the message of the Good News of the kingdom, the joy of forgiveness, the demand and gift of discipleship. It is before all, so listen, take heed, be fruitful soil.”‘ (p. 131 in 1982 edition)
Leave a Comment
4 Responses to “More than just a dreamcoat”Hello again!
I feel I might very quickly be getting a reputation as “Rachael-of-the-difficult-questions”! But I’m sure I’m not the first (and won’t be the last) person to struggle to get their head around the concept of unforgivable sin, as Jesus describes in todays NT reading (Matthew 12:31-32):
“And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
I’ve read a lot of confusing and conflicting commentaries on this passage and still feel none the wiser. The closest I’ve come to understanding it is that “blaspheming the Spirit” means that you *know* something is the work of God, and yet you *choose* to reject it. Am I close???
Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
Rachael
Hi R
It is very challenging isn’t it. I pondered as I read those verses. My sense is this: God dwelling IN us by His Spirit as opposed to WITH us in Christ or AMONGST us in the Tabernacle and Temple is a seismic shift in the way the Holy God choses to ive amongst those who are fallen and sinful. The presence and gift of The Holy Spirit is ONLY possible because of the atoning work of Jesus. Without the sanctifyng blood of Jesus the Spirit woudl be absent and not indwelling. This is the ultimate gift of God. His presence indwelling us. Maybe Jesus is saying beware of ever flouting that gift…EVER!
Rachael,
my understanding is pretty much the same as where you’ve got to, that it’s a deliberate rejection of God’s work. Dick France in his commentary explains that speaking against the Son of Man is forgivable in the context because at this stage Jesus was in some sense incognito. He says: ‘The difference is then between failure to recognise the light and deliberate rejection of it once recognised.’ God can’t be reconciled with people who deliberately reject him and his work.
Whatever the answer, it presumably relates to what the Pharisees have been doing in attributing Jesus’ work to Satan
Rachael, he ESV Study Bible is helpful too and similar to the point you’ve reached. Commenting on Luke 12:10 (similar passage). Jesus makes a distinction between the extreme case of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and the lesser case of speaking against Jesus. One who asks for forgiveness in speaking hastily against Jesus (as in Peter’s denial of Jesus, eg Luke 22:54-62 and his subsequent restoration, John 21:15-19) will be forgiven. However, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the persistent and unrepentant resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit and his message about Jesus (cf Acts 7:51). The person who persists in hardening his heart in this way, against God and against the Holy Spirit and against Jesus as Saviour, can reach a point where they become beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness and salvation. The ESV continues to say that Christians often worry that they have committed this sin, but such concern is evidence that the Holy Spirit IS working in their lives.