8/9/2019 "Gardens & Thorns" (from the Echo series)

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Gardens & Thorns

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Were starting a new series today called Echo, and in these next couple of weeks were

going to look at some of the passages in the New Testament that act as echoes, allusions,and parallels to themes that began in the Old Testament.

Lets say you start attending a church and you want to know more about whats going on.

You go out and get a Bible. But youve heard the Old Testament can be a bit challenging, soyou start in the New Testament. But that doesnt solve the problem, because there are

plenty of passages in the New Testament that can leave you scratching your head andsaying, huh?

Concepts like covenant, Kingdom, and circumcision are all there, and if were honest, thesignificance of those things doesnt always resonate with us in modern-day America.

But if youve read the New Testament at all, youve probably noticed all the superscriptedletters next to many of the verses. When you see one of those it means that you should

look at the notes in the margins. And what do you find when you look there?Its usually a chapter and verse from the Old Testament that serves as the original line of

thought that the current New Testament verse is either quoting or alluding to in some way.

The New Testament directly quotes the Old Testament 343 times, but there are more than2,000 allusions, echoes, and verbal parallels of the Old Testament found in the New

Testament.

For example, take the Gospel of Matthew the first book in the New Testament. The directquotations come fast and furious as he weaves together aspects of Jesus birth, life,

ministry, and death with specific texts from the Old Testament. And even when the OldTestament writer didnt think he was recording prophecy that would be fulfilled at a later

time, Matthew insists that the older writer was doing just that.

So Matthew tells us that Jesus used parables to teach the crowds of people who came to

him. Ok fine. But in verse 35 of chapter 13, Matthew goes further and insists that byteaching in parables, Jesus was fulfilling Psalm 78:2 (NIV), which says, I will open mymouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.

Thats a direct quotation from the Old Testament, and Matthew gives it a straightforward

fulfillment in the New Testament. But echoes are more nuanced and less direct. They

rumble beneath the surface, tucked away unless you know what youre listening for.

The thing is, these echoes would have been obvious to anyone in that first century culture,but theyre less obvious to us who are living 2,000 years later.

What were listening for is what writers call: METALEPSIS or Intertextuality.

Metalepsis is the literary term for when writers incorporate echoes in their writing.

Its been used by everyone from Homer in The Odysseyto Shakespeare in HamlettoStephanie Meyer in Twilight. It happens when a present text uses an earlier text in order to

give that earlier text an updated, redefined, or fulfilled meaning.

Its reasonable to ask: Is all this talking about metalepsis and intertextuality, and listeningfor echoes really necessary?

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In a word, yes it is.If you want to understand what the New Testament is saying, then these things are

definitely necessary.

Richard Hays is a professor at Duke Divinity School and hes the definitive scholar onrecognizing the echoes in the New Testament. He teaches that, New Testament texts must

be read with careful attention to their Old Testament subtexts (The Moral Vision of the NewTestament, 310).

Not to do so is to risk missing the point of the New Testament altogether. Because, you see,

the writers of the New Testament grew up in the world of the Old Testament. So they hadlived their lives in the symbolic world made up of those words, those images, and those

stories.

Think about it like this:If I say New York Yankees, what comes to your mind?

Today that calls to mind the baseball team that spends crazy amounts of money to get the

best players so they can win the World Series. BUT, if this were 1870, it wouldnt carry that

image at all. If someone said something about the New York Yankees in 1870, wed likelyhear an echo from the Civil War! The term would be a reference to political affiliations, withno thought whatsoever of professional sports.

So, it should be obvious that words mean what they mean at the time theyre being used.

And the images that the New Testament writers want us to think of are the ones that theywere thinking of when they wrote the words they did.

So avoiding the Old Testament and going straight to the New Testament doesnt help

because the New Testament is like a giant echo chamber of the Old Testament!But that leaves you with 3 options:

1) Throw the whole thing out and write it off as outdated superstition.2) Keep showing up at church, but give up trying to understand the Bible.

3) Keep reading, keep showing up, ask questions, and seek understanding.

The best of these options is, of course, number 3.

In this series, well identify and listen to some of the New Testament passages whose

meanings come into view most clearly when theyre heard as echoes of the Old Testament.

Today well start with one example and well continue along these lines for the next coupleof weeks.

GENESISWe begin in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve wrestle with temptation and

eventually forfeit their roles as truly human beings, genuine image-bearers of God, who aredependent on God to meet their needs. They assert their desire to be like God and as a

result the good creation is thrown off-kilter. God announces in Genesis 3:17b-18b (NIV),Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of

your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you

Creation has been INFECTED with the forces of anti-creation even down to its roots.

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God calls Abraham (then his name was Abram) in Genesis 12 to begin a people whose

function was to be a channel for the blessing of God to spread throughout the world. Theobvious intention is for the blessing to undo the curse of sin as it plows ahead.

The family of Abraham is later called the Israelites; and throughout the Old Testament,

theyre referred to as Gods Son. As Gods Son, theyre expected to bear a FAMILYresemblance to their Father, the God who created heaven and earth.

So in Exodus 4:22 (NIV) God instructs Moses: Say to Pharaoh, This is what the LORD

says: Israel is my firstborn son

But they dont bear a family resemblance to their God. So later on Hosea 11:1-2a (NIV)records Gods lament, When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my

son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me.

As time goes by, Israel actually looks more and more like Egypt from whom they werefreed. And even the great King Solomon comes off sounding a lot more like Pharaoh than a

king after Gods own heart.

Tell me if this isnt a slap in Solomons face:One verse after were told that it took Solomon seven years to get the Temple of God built,

were told that, It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction ofhis palace (1 Kings 7:1 NIV).

Can you feel the subtle jab here? Solomon cares more about his own palace than Gods! Heis more concerned with his own reputation than Gods reputation!

And in case you miss the point, 1 Kings 10:14 (NIV) says, The weight of the gold that

Solomon received yearly was 666 talents.

It doesnt matter if you know how much a talent is worth in U.S. Dollars. Thats not the

point. The point is the number 666 in Jewish thinking is code for evil. Solomons richesare causing evil rather than good.

And so it goes for the Israelites throughout the Old Testament: theyre called to reverse the

curse of sin, and yet they continually find themselves tripped up and choked out by thesame thorns that plague everyone else.

JOHN

And then the gospel of John sounds the bell and calls us to attention.His first words echo the first words ofGENESIS: In the beginning

He weaves these types of echoes through his story and then Jesus came out wearing the

crown of thorns (John 19:5a NIV).

THORNS are an echo of the curse of sin. And Jesus is there, with a crown of THORNS thathas been driven into his head. And hear the announcement made by the Roman governor to

the Jewish leaders:Behold the man (John 19:5b NIV)!

The man is the same word for ADAM (its pronounced Ah-Dahm).

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The governor, Pontius Pilate, doesnt even realize how deeply true his statement is!The Apostle Paul realizes it, and he compares Adam to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:22.

He writes, Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs toChrist will be given new life (NLT).

Jesus, having agonized and wrestled with his own calling in another garden the Garden of

Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:36) is here taking the curse of sin onto and into himself.Thats the significance of the thorns upon his head. In his death, the curse can beextinguished; and in his resurrected life, which will soon be imparted to all who believe, the

blessing can go forward as it was always intended to do.

WRAP IT UP

At the end of his Gospel, John includes another echo from Genesis: the resurrected Jesustells the fearful disciples, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he

breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:21b-22 NIV).

This takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden, before sin had a chance to cause such

disruption.

In Genesis 2:7, God breathed his own breath, the breath of life, into human nostrils.

Can you hear the echo? Now, in the new creation, the redeeming life of God is breathed out

through JESUS, making new people out of the disciples, and through them, offering thisblessing of new life to the world.

As Jesus was sent, so we, who have been exposed to the redeeming life and empowering

breath of God, are sent. Therefore, go and follow the one who succeeded in the garden andwho took the thorns upon himself.

That is the way of faith.

That is the way of hope.That is the way ofLOVE.

That is the way of life.That is the way of Christ.

And so it shall be the way of all who bear his name.

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ECHO

Gardens & Thorns

The New Testament has more than __________ allusions, echoes, and parallels of the Old Testament.

What were listening for is what writers call: ________________ or Intertextuality.

New Testament texts must be read with careful attention to their Old Testament subtexts.(Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, 310)

GENESIS

Creation has been ____________ with the forces of anti-creation even down to its roots.

Genesis 3:17b-18b (NIV), Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the daysof your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you

As Gods Son, Israel is expected to bear a ______________ resemblance to their Father.

Israel is called by God to reverse the curse of sin,and yet they continually find themselves tripped up and choked out by the same thorns that plague everyone else.

JOHN

The first words of Johns gospel echo the first words of ____________: In the beginning

___________________ are an echo of the curse of sin.

John 19:5a (NIV) Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns.

The man is the same word for __________________.

John 19:5b (NIV) Behold the man!

Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.(1 Corinthians 15:22 NLT)

in the new creation, the redeeming life of God is breathed out through ____________.John 20:21b-22 (NIV) As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them andsaid, Receive the Holy Spirit.

That is the way of faith. That is the way of hope. That is the way of ____________.That is the way of life.

That is the way of Christ.And so it shall be the way of all who bear his name.

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2,000

METALEPSIS

INFECTED

FAMILY

GENESIS

THORNS

ADAM

JESUS

LOVE

ECHO

Gardens & Thorns

The New Testament has more than __________ allusions, echoes, and parallels of the Old Testament.

What were listening for is what writers call: ________________ or Intertextuality.

New Testament texts must be read with careful attention to their Old Testament subtexts.(Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, 310)

GENESIS

Creation has been ____________ with the forces of anti-creation even down to its roots.

Genesis 3:17b-18b (NIV), Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the daysof your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you

As Gods Son, Israel is expected to bear a ______________ resemblance to their Father.

Israel is called by God to reverse the curse of sin,and yet they continually find themselves tripped up and choked out by the same thorns that plague everyone else.

JOHN

The first words of Johns gospel echo the first words of ____________: In the beginning

_________________ are an echo of the curse of sin.

John 19:5a (NIV) Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns.

The man is the same word for __________________.

John 19:5b (NIV) Behold the man!

Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.(1 Corinthians 15:22 NLT)

in the new creation, the redeeming life of God is breathed out through ____________.John 20:21b-22 (NIV) As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them andsaid, Receive the Holy Spirit.

That is the way of faith. That is the way of hope. That is the way of ____________.That is the way of life.

That is the way of Christ.And so it shall be the way of all who bear his name.

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