Things have been going very well so far. As of this post, Christa, Joe, and Josh have taught their lessons. I am happy to report that they have done well and that the youth have well-gathered the points of the lessons. Kate will go today. For the opening devotions each day, I have tried to take great and deliberate care to connect each day's effort, finally moving toward the Friday lesson that Josh and I will be team-teaching (and we which we happen to be writing together). Thus far I have done brief lessons on Invocation, Sermon, and Creed. Today will be on Prayer. Tomorrow will be time to answer theological question (which the kids are to have been writing) followed by a brief lesson on Benediction. The text for Lesson five is Matthew 7:15-23. It was fun studying the Greek text with Josh...talking first person, plural, aorist, active, indicative forms...and stuff. ;) I'm a geek that way, but no apologies. I've done an exegeticval study of this text before, but this time around, I found some great stuff. I love it! There are a couple of words that are often translated very weakly into the English. I wonder if over time, that translators have stayed with these easier words because of tradition, etc. Maybe they just underestimate the ears of the believing Christian. I'd be willing to bet that is the reason.
For example, in verse 17, we often hear of "all good trees" bearing "good fruits" and the "bad" trees bearing "bad" fruit. Actually, and quite interestingly, the word "all" is connected to the singular nominative noun "tree". In other words, it would read "all good tree". Not "trees." Kind of sends you to John 15, right? We are part of the vine, which is Jesus. We are not "vines" or "trees" unto oursleves. In this, we have life and bear good fruit. Further on, the word is better translated as "rotting, decaying" trees producing "evil" fruits. That fits the fuller picture of the scriptures, that is, it may be the temptation of the reader to connect "bad" and "fruits" to deeds. But Christ is here pointing out that death is in those trees, not life. They are not connected to the vine. Again, John 15. The dead, decaying branches are cut off and thrown into the fire. There is a difference. And certainly a pastor should take great care to unpack the original language to find this.
Hopefully this isn't too boring for folks, but another great discovery is in the 2nd person, plural, active imperative that Jesus uses at the end in verse 23. We often get it as "Away from me!", as if it is some informal, royal, declaration with little substance. The Greek text leaves no doubting that on the Last Day, for the imposters, Jesus will look them in the eye, point with His finger, and say "Get away from me." Yikes...and yet, wow!
Anyway, the point of this text is tto be watchful for false prophets, that is, those who speak for Christ, but do not speak rightly or for the right Christ. I think this will be a pinnacle lesson for these high-school aged kids because they are innundated with and immersed in different denominations (particularly the fundie kinds) trying to get them to "decide to follow Jesus" and all that other jip. Hopefully, after this lesson, they will be armed with tools for hearing carefully what is being taught. God willing, they will be able to "test the spirits" and will be able to see with clarity that the verdant pasture of Jesus' grace is definitely greener among the Lutherans.
By the way, we had an hour to spare on Tuesday night. Romas took us to a gun range. I shot a .44 Magnum. That was pretty cool. We took pictures. I wish I would have been wearing my collar... Kind of a "Pale Rider", Clint Eastwood moment.
That last note is my "tangent" ending.
Blessings to all,
Pastor Thoma+
