“Littlefaiths”

“Why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith” Matthew 6:30 (NIV)

In this passage the disciples are addressed by Jesus as “O you (plural) of little faith”.
This is a translation of the single Greek word ὀλιγόπιστοι. Pronounced ‘ol-ig-op’-is-toi’, it’s a combination of the two Greek words, ὀλιγός and (ol-ig-os) meaning ‘little’ and πιστος (pi-stos) meaning ‘faith’. The word only occurs 4 times in the New Testament in the gospel of Matthew (once again in Luke 12:28 but in that instance referring to the same passage cited here in Matt 6:30). The four instances are Matthew 6:30, 8:20, 14:31 and 16:8. Apart from Matt 14:31 where Peter is addressed individually, in each case the word is in both in the plural and in the vocative case (the case of address). In each of the cases cited the word is directly attributed to the spoken words of Jesus. ὀλιγός is found in Hellenistic or ‘common’ Greek (the Greek of the New Testament) in many other combinations with other Greek words. For example it is combined with the word for soul with the meaning ‘fainthearted’, or literally ‘little of soul’. An example of this usage is found in Isaiah 35:4 in the Greek translation of the Old Testament:

“Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be Strong, do not fear; your God will come’..”

What is remarkable however is that the word ὀλιγόπιστοι though found very occasionally in later Christian writings is not in fact found elsewhere in secular Greek writings of the first century AD or before. So where did the word come from?

We know that Jesus gave nicknames to James and John, the ‘Sons of thunder’ (Mark 3:17). We also know He added the name Peter (from the Greek Petros, meaning rock) to Simon Bar Jonas (Mark 3:16). We also know that Jesus was fond of using word play, wit and irony throughout his teaching so is it indeed possible that the Lord Himself coined this very word ‘little–faiths’ as an affectionate name for his doubting disciples?

Throughout His ministry Jesus met many people with very different levels of faith. From the sense of hopelessness of the crippled man who lay at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15) to the woman who knew if she could but touch the hem of his garment she would be made whole (Matt 9:20-22)

However two of the more interesting examples of faith are those demonstrated by the Roman Centurion (Matt 8:5-13) and the woman of Canaan (Matt 15:21). What is remarkable about these gentiles was the maturity of their faith. Unlike a child who is always demanding ‘give me this, give me that’, the centurion and the Canaanite woman recognize their own sense of worthlessness before the Lord. The centurion identifies with the submission of Jesus to His Father’s authority. “For I also am a man under authority” he declares, the woman is happy to be under the table.
Both demonstrate remarkable faith which Jesus both acknowledges and responds with equally remarkable answers:

Matt 8:13 to the centurion      

Υπαγε, ὡς ἐπίστευσας γενηθήτω σοι –  Go, as you believed let it be for you

Matt 15:28 to the Canaanite woman      

ω γύναι, μεγάλη σου ἡ πίστις: γενηθήτω σοι ὡς θέλεις – O woman, great of-you the faith; let it be for you as you wish

What I find remarkable here is the maturity of the response from Jesus in that instead of simply declaring the servant of the centurion and the daughter of the Canaanite woman well, He makes no mention of them but rather empowers the faith of these two individuals to achieve the things they had requested.

When I read the above passages I can’t help being drawn to the usage here of the word γενηθήτω (pronounced ge-ne-the-to) used in both instances and, being in the imperative mood, having the meaning ‘Let it be’.
This is of course none other than the same word from the Greek version of Genesis 1:4 (et al) where God declares “Let there be light”. It is in turn a translation of the Hebrew word יְהִי (pronounced yehi ), being the divine directive for the creation of celestial phenomena.

When God spoke the words “Let there be ” did He ever for one moment doubt that perhaps nothing might happen? I speak here from the standpoint of our human understanding of God of course when I ask the question. But it raises the question if God in fact has or indeed needs faith or putting the question in a wider context we might also ask does God have hope? We are told there are three things that will remain, faith, hope and love (1 Cor 13:13). We also told that God is love (1 John 4:16) but is this His only attribute? Is God not also the source of hope and faith?
In similar fashion to both the centurion and the Canaanite woman we too come to God through Christ when we pray. Is our attitude of prayer childish or mature in nature. Do we come with the same level of maturity of faith as these two individuals?

Christ has already given the mandate
“All things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive” (Matt 21:22)
When we come in faith to Christ we have the assurance of His response ”According to your faith let it be for you”
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Our prayers of faith can change and shape the world around us through the same power that God Himself exercised in the beginning when He spoke those words “Let there be” and His will came to pass and God saw that it was good.

The Scribbling Scribe
30th Aug 2009

Sufficient for the day

Matthew 6:25-34 is the well know passage where Jesus commands us not to take any anxious thought for tomorrow as the events of tomorrow are under the control of a loving Father. At the end of the passage He adds the phrase “sufficient for the day is the evil thereof”. In the original Greek it reads: ἀρκετὸν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἡ κακία αὐτῆς  (‘ sufficient  for-the-day the-evil of-it ’)

I always thought the wording of this phrase just a little curious, particularly as this passage has as its primary concern the daily provision of a loving Father. Could He perhaps have had some other idea or word association in mind when He said this? Most scholars and commentators agree that there is a reference in this passage to the events in the desert many centuries earlier described in Exodus 16 where God provides manna, bread from heaven to a hungry nation. Perhaps there is more here that first meets the eye? Let’s go back and investigate a little deeper.

The story so far. The children of Israel are in bondage in Egypt, ruthlessly abused and in enslaved labour. They are forced by their task masters to make bricks to build the Egyptian cities of Ramses and Pithom (Exodus 1:11-14). However their pain and suffering has not gone unnoticed by God (Ex 3:7-8) and He calls Moses to the challenge of leading His people out of bondage into the land flowing with milk and honey.

Somewhat reluctantly Moses agrees and sets off with Aaron his brother to confront the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh would seem to be somewhat bemused by the initial request and sends them away with a firm No! telling them not to waste his time anymore. No sooner have they gone than Pharaoh calls his hench men and instructs them to increase the work load on God’s people.

Up until that point in time the Egyptians provided the straw that was required to manufacture the bricks but now the children of Israel are told they must also now gather the straw to make the bricks but still produce them in the same quantities as before.

In Exodus 5:19 it’s recorded that “The Israelite foremen were told..”You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day” . The phrase in italics reads in the Hebrew (r to l):  דְּבַר־יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ׃ ( ‘In-its-day the thingof – the day’)

The word  דְּבַר (here in it’s construct form) is from the root for ‘word’ but can also mean as it does here a generic ‘thing’ or ‘task’. A good translation therefore here would be, in the context of the manufacture of bricks, the Israelites were being told to meet “the quota of the day on the day”

Interestingly the same phrase turns up again in Exodus 16:4 when the Israelites are now in the desert and complaining to Moses of hunger. God is speaking here (phrase is shown in italics again):

“I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instruction” 

When I first read these passages I couldn’t but help to notice the underlying similarity in thought to the Mattew passage. Did Jesus have these passages in mind in His dialogue? We can only but speculate.

In a strange way the cruelly of the Egyptian slave masters kept the Israelites focused on the evil of their day. I can image that once they got home in the evening the most they could rise to was to make a little food and then go straight to bed exhausted. There was no thought of tomorrow and certainly no desire to think about the prospect of another day of pain and cruelty.

Not long afterwards in the desert following the exodus God Himself would tell the Israelites to gather only sufficient manna for the day. It was His way of testing the people to see to what extent they were prepared to trust Him purely on a day by day basis without any thought or preparation for the morrow. Some Israelites however kept manna over only to discover the following morning that it had gone stale and was inedible.

Whether we are concerned about food or clothing, or a job or our children’s future or whether it’s about manna in the desert or the cruelty of the Egyptian task masters Jesus commands us not to be anxious for tomorrow because our heavenly Father knows all about tomorrow and knows already what we will need. The primary message of the passage in Matthew is that we spend all our energy and efforts today into seeking God and His righteousness and kingdom, putting on His armour daily to engage in the spiritual warfare that rages around us and having done all at the end of the day to remaining standing steadfast in His victory. As for tomorrow, it is in God’s hands, sufficient for today is the quota of evil for the day.   

The Scribbling Scribe

2nd Aug 2009

The Stiller of Storms

We read in Job 38:1 ‘Then the LORD answered Job from the storm’. In the original Hebrew text it reads as follows (read from right)

וַיַּעַן־יְהוָה אֶת־אִיּוֹב מִן הַסְּעָרָה  The LORD  answered Job from out of the whirlwind         

The word used for storm is סְּעָרָה pronounced “s‘arah” a noun meaning tempest, whirlwind or storm.      

It’s the same word used in Isaiah 29:6 to denote an instrument of the wrath of God against ‘Ariel’, a metaphor for the city of Jerusalem, where the LORD visits Jerusalem ‘with great noise, with storm and tempest’. It is also the word that Ezekiel uses to describe the opening scene from the vision of God he received in the land of Israel’s exile. Ezekiel 1:4 ‘And I looked and behold a storm came out of the north..’

God is manifest in the ferocious storm. But turn now from the drama of the devastating whirlwind to the other end of the vocal spectrum, the ‘still small voice’. In 1 Kings 19:12 we read:

וְאַחַר הָרַעַשׁ אֵשׁ לֹא בָאֵשׁ יְהוָה וְאַחַר הָאֵשׁ קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה׃

gentle  a-whisper  a-voice-of  the-fire  and-after,  the-LORD in-the-fire not,  a-fire  the-earthquake and after  

The Lord reveals Himself to Elijah – ‘And after the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came the voice of a gentle whisper’

In the Hebrew the word used for whisper is דְּמָמָה pronounced “d‘mamah” a noun with the meaning of a barely audible whisper. Note it is also described in the same passage as  דַקָּה ‘daq’qah’ meaning gentle or non threatening so unlike the onslaught of the whirlwind.      

In these two passages God reveals Himself through the complete vocal spectrum of the decibel intense, terrifying roars of the tempest through to the gentle, barely audible whisper.

But turn now to Psalm 107:29 for something even more striking. Both words are combined in the single phrase יָקֵם סְעָרָה לִדְמָמָה ‘He stills the storm to a whisper’

The following is a paraphrased extract of the same passage from the Psalm:

“Others went out to sea in ships..he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted the waves high.. in their peril their courage melted away..they were at their wit’s end ..then they cried to the LORD in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm and he guided them to their desired haven”

Now check out the following passage from Matthew 8:23. I have paraphrased this so you can see the remarkable similarity with the extract from the Psalm.

“They entered into a boat..there arose a great tempest..the boat was covered with waves..they came to him and awoke him saying ‘Save Lord we are perishing’..he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm..they arrived at the other side”

Note carefully the phrase in the Greek  καὶ ἐγένετο γαλήνη μεγάλη And there came about a calm,  a great (one)

The calm must have been in contrast to the storm so dramatic, so intense it could almost be felt. The similarity between the two passages is remarkable and not easily ignored. The disciples afterwards remarked ‘What manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?”. The Lord Jesus had clearly demonstrated his ability to ‘still the storm to a whisper’.

In describing Himself as one with the Father the Lord Jesus makes an incredibly profound statement that simply cannot be ignored. On the sea of Galilee He calms and pacifies the rage and terrifying anger of the tempest and fury of the storm and there comes as a consequence a deep, profound peace.

When I read this I cannot help but see a metaphor here in this incident on a lake in Galilee with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross at calvary where “He ..reconciles .. them both (Jew and Gentile) in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were near: for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father” – Ephesians 2:16-18

He is the storm stiller and the one who ‘stills the tempest to the voice of a gentle whisper’. He is the peacemaker between God and man.

The Scribbling Scribe 1^st Aug 2009