Tag: Mike Nappa (Page 4 of 24)

Why does Jesus say it’s wrong to pray publicly?

/ Mike Nappa

Scripture: Matthew 6:5–18

Jesus’ reference to public prayer was not the same as what you and I might consider it to be today. “When you pray,” he said, “don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.” He describes flamboyant, hypocritical praying that sounds a bit like grand theatre—because it probably was.

Although some Jewish prayers (such as the Amidah) included standing, most did not. Thus, Bible scholar Craig Evans tells us that this word picture of Christ likely hearkens to Greek-influenced performance art of the time. The Greek word we translate as “hypocrite” in verse 5 is one that was typically associated with a career actor, or more literally, a “play-actor.” In Greek culture it also carried the meaning of “pretender.”

This play-actor theme continued Christ’s earlier sentiments about “acts of righteousness” done as performance art (see Matthew 6:1–2), and it would’ve been readily familiar to Jesus’ audience. Only a few miles north of Nazareth, in nearby Sepphoris, Herod Antipas had built a large, Greco-Roman style theatre with seating for a whopping 2,500 people. Antipas’ father, Herod the Great, had also built similar theatres in Jerusalem and Jericho.

Jesus labeled religious narcissists who stood and made their private prayers in public settings as hypocrites. His hearers would likely have pictured the theatre in Sepphoris (or Jerusalem or Jericho), and seen a vain, preening actor, standing center stage, delivering a sloppy soliloquy in hopes of applause. Prayer, according to Christ, was never meant to be that.

Sources:

BKB 121–122

“Why does Jesus say it’s wrong to pray publicly?” is reprinted from Bible-Smart: Matthew © 2023 Nappaland Communications Inc. Published Tyndale House Publishers/Rose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

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Why was Peter so afraid of a little servant girl that he would deny even knowing Jesus?

/ Mike Nappa

Scripture: Matthew 26:69–75.

Well, the situation encompassed more than just an idle accusation by a “little” servant girl. We must remember that, at this moment, Peter was standing among enemies in the courtyard of the high priest. This was in March or early April, so it was a cold night. Rather than shiver alone, he had to seek warmth around a fire where armed guards were also standing (John 18:18).

Moments before this, Peter had attacked the high priest’s servant and cut off that man’s ear (John 18:10). If these guards identified him as that attacker, how would they respond? They’d most certainly arrest him. Would they also exact “an ear for an ear” justice? There’s no telling, but those guards certainly wouldn’t have treated him kindly.

Meanwhile, Jesus’ trial was going badly. If these enemies surrounding him knew Peter was a follower of Christ, would they make him suffer the same fate as his master? Add to that the emotional upheaval of the betrayal by his close friend, Judas, and the surprise militia that tore them all from the garden at Gethsemane, and you can see why Peter might have been frayed enough to say, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” (Matthew 26:74).

And, just for the record, Peter wasn’t the only one to turn away from Jesus that terrible night. Matthew 26:56 reports that at the moment of his arrest, “all the disciples deserted him and fled”—including even the gospel writer himself.

Personally, although it breaks my heart to hear Peter’s denial and to witness his sorrow afterward, I agree with the late, great theologian Paul Tillich who said that “If the disciples had suppressed the truth about their own profound weakness, our gospels would not be what they are.” The church at times, Tillich continues, “has tried to conceal what the disciples openly admitted—that we all forsook him and fled. But this is the truth about all men, including followers of Jesus today.”

Sources:

WWC 263; TEN 102–103

“Why was Peter so afraid of a little servant girl that he would deny even knowing Jesus?” is reprinted from Bible-Smart: Matthew © 2023 Nappaland Communications Inc. Published Tyndale House Publishers/Rose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

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What was the deal with drowning pigs in Matthew 8? (Bible-Smart.com)

What was the deal with the drowning pigs in Matthew 8? Did the demons survive the deaths of the pigs?

/ Mike Nappa

Scripture: Matthew 8:28–34

When Jesus healed two demon-possessed men in the region of the Gadarenes, the demons begged to be exorcised into a nearby herd of swine. Jesus granted that request, so the demons inhabited those pigs. The whole herd then stampeded into the Sea of Galilee and drowned.

This is such an odd turn of events; how do we make sense of it?

The first thing to note is the demons’ manic fear of God’s coming judgment. “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?” they ask Christ. This strongly suggests that Jesus himself will be involved in administering punishment at the end of days. The demons obviously recognized him as their future judge, even addressing him with the title, “Son of God.” Theologian Craig Keener observes, “Apparently even the demons did not expect the Messiah to come in two stages, a first and second coming.”

It’s also important to understand that this miracle of exorcism took place in the predominately non-Jewish region of the Gadarenes, which explains the presence of swine herders and a large population of pigs. Jews regarded pigs as filthy, unclean animals worthy of nothing more than contempt. Thus when demons begged to be banished into a herd of pigs, to Jewish ears, that would’ve seemed a fitting punishment—a vile, disgusting habitat appropriate for evil spirits.

We’re not told what the final fate of those demons was, only that the pigs they inhabited stampeded and died. Jewish tradition held that demons could be either bound or killed, and so some speculate that when the pigs they inhabited died, the demons themselves were also destroyed. Jewish folklore also held that demons were somehow tortured by, and thus afraid of, water. In one legend, King Solomon condemns a demon to captivity by surrounding it with barrels of water, therefore preventing it from escaping. Thus, when demon-possessed pigs died by drowning in the Sea of Galilee, Jews in Jesus’ time could have viewed that as a way of imprisoning the demons by immersing them in water.

Still, we’ll never know for sure exactly what was going on here, and perhaps that’s for the best. It’s enough for us to see what Jesus’ disciples, the residents of Gadarenes, and those demons, all unexpectedly understood that day: Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Sources:

IBB 69; BKB 183, 185

“What was the deal with the drowning pigs in Matthew 8? Did the demons survive the deaths of the pigs?” is reprinted from Bible-Smart: Matthew © 2023 Nappaland Communications Inc. Published Tyndale House Publishers/Rose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

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Who was this rich man that came to Jesus?

/ Mike Nappa

Scripture: Matthew 19:16–30

We don’t actually know much about the unnamed man who approached Jesus and asked, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). The few facts we have are gleaned from this passage and parallel accounts in Mark 10:17–31 and Luke 18:18–30.

Matthew observes that this rich man was young, indicating he was at least younger than that disciple—perhaps in his late teens or early twenties. The young man also had many possessions, which in that society likely meant substantial holdings in land and other property. Because of his young-ish age, it’s realistic to assume that he inherited that wealth rather than earned it himself.

Luke tells us the man was “very rich” (Luke 18:23), which would convey the impression that, in addition to his lands, he’d probably inherited a large store of money that was now at his disposal. Luke 18:18 also reveals that he was “a religious leader,” (or “a ruler” in other translations). So perhaps he was now stepping into his predetermined role as a leader in the community and provider for his family. Maybe he saw Jesus as some kind of wise father figure who could give good advice to help him succeed in these new responsibilities.

Mark reinforces the characterizations of Matthew and Luke, adding the detail that the young rich man “knelt down” in front of Jesus (Mark 10:17). This showed he was well trained in the protocols of religious hierarchy.

All these things taken together suggest that this rich man, the young ruler, was possibly an up-and-coming leader among the Sadducees, an influential aristocratic group in Jesus’ day. They were the religious and social elite, holding significant wealth and power in Israel. Still, the gospel writers never specifically call this young man a Sadducee, so that’s only speculation.

Sources:

SMB 112

“Who was this rich man that came to Jesus?” is reprinted from Bible-Smart: Matthew © 2023 Nappaland Communications Inc. Published Tyndale House Publishers/Rose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

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What was it like to leprosy in Jesus' time? (Bible-Smart.com)

What was it like to live with leprosy in Jesus’ time?

/ Mike Nappa

Scripture: Matthew 8:1–4

Matthew 8:1–4 gives no obvious reason for Jesus’ decision to heal, except that the man with leprosy asked. However, Matthew indicates elsewhere that compassion was Christ’s ongoing motivation for healing (see Matthew 9:35–36; 14:14; 15:32–38; 20:29–34). That compassion was justified, especially considering these awful facts about living with leprosy in those days:

The term used for leprosy in the New Testament was a general reference to seemingly incurable skin infections. It could have included the formal affliction, which we now call Hansen’s Disease, or any other severe skin disease with inflammation.
By Mosaic law, priests—not doctors—were charged with diagnosing leprosy in people (Leviticus 13:2). Sometimes they tried to treat the disease with various baths, ointments, and mixtures of herbs and oils applied to the skin.
The process for diagnosing leprosy went something like this: A person with serious skin infections such as tissue-crusts on the skin, severe rashes, or “whitish-red swollen” spots would go to a temple priest to be examined. The priest would look to see if the infection had penetrated the skin, or if hair in the affected area had turned white. If so, he would declare the person “unclean” with leprosy. If not, a seven-day quarantine was instituted, with a new examination for leprosy scheduled afterward (Leviticus 13:2–8).
Being diagnosed with leprosy was a death sentence, physically, socially, economically, and spiritually. In fact, rabbinic tradition, as Chuck Swindoll explains, “held that curing leprosy was as difficult as raising the dead, perhaps because they saw the disease as the physical manifestation of sin’s consequences.”
A leper was considered physically unclean—and contagious—as well as spiritually unclean. That meant a leper was completely shunned from normal activities of community life and banned from inclusion in worship in the temple or any synagogue. The leper couldn’t hold a job, couldn’t live in a home with non-lepers (including his or her own family), couldn’t shop in a market, couldn’t own property, couldn’t touch or hug or hold hands. Nothing. The leper’s only option was begging for scraps, isolation, and waiting to physically deteriorate and die.

This was the terrible situation of the man who came to Jesus, begging to be healed. Christ’s response was compassion—and healing. My old pastor, Chuck Swindoll, notes one particularly significant aspect of this miracle:

[Jesus] reached out and literally touched the man society had rejected as untouchable. In other instances, Jesus merely spoke a word and the miracle took effect. In at least one case, He healed from a distance of twenty miles (John 4:46–54). But in this situation, he chose to touch the leper’s diseased skin, as if to say, “Your disease doesn’t prevent me from accepting you.”

Sources:

JHT 161; ILJ 185–188; SLU 127–128

“What was it like to live with leprosy in Jesus’ time?” is reprinted from Bible-Smart: Matthew © 2023 Nappaland Communications Inc. Published Tyndale House Publishers/Rose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

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