Purgatory in the Bible

[Music] the second parable is is shift slightly now it's the parable of a thief in the night it's got the same basic meaning it's got the same upshot be ready for the son of man when he comes but here instead of comparing the son of man to a master returning from a wedding fees he does another twist right now the son of man's like a thief who comes in the middle of the night to break into your home right now those are two kinds of readiness right he says know that if the householder had known

at what hour the thief was coming he would have been awake and not have left his house to be broken into think about this there's a certain kind of expectation and anticipation that you might have as a servant if you're waiting for your master return it's very different if if someone called you and said tonight I know your house is going to be broken into right are you going to be able to sleep that night or are you going to stay away well you're not even to be able to rest you're gonna there's going to

be a certain level of anxiety about the unknown hour of the thief's arrival so Jesus here uses both these parables the Masters return from the wedding and the thief and the night to talk about the importance of being ready for the coming of the Son of Man but also the fact that you don't know exactly when he's going to come this is gonna be a standard theme of all of Jesus's preaching whenever he talks about the final judgment and the second coming it's crucial to emphasize that he always tells the disciples you don't know when

it's gonna happen there's a certain ignorance about the timing of the end right we see this elsewhere in the Gospels of Matthew Mark Jesus says you know neither the angels in heaven nor the son but only the father know the day and the hour when heaven and earth are going to pass away so um this ignorant at the end it's just important because every now and then well actually pretty frequently people will rise up and they'll set a timeline like the final judgment is going to happen at this time or on this date there's a

very famous example this from the 1980s it was a book that came out 88 reasons the world will end in 1988 and of course when 1988 came and nothing happened the next year another book came out 89 reasons the world will end in 1989 as you might imagine the second edition did not sell as well as the first but sold millions of copies because of the the fact that the deadline that was given the timeline that was given didn't actually happen so here we see Jesus affirming the Son of Man is coming but at the

same time telling you at an hour you do not expect so the thief in the night gives a powerful image of the unexpected nature of the Son of Man is coming so Jesus's disciples their response to their duty is just to be ready and to stay awake to be vigilant to keep alert all right and then good old Peter once Jesus gives this parable or it really is kind of two parables of the master and the thief Peter says Lord are you telling this parable for us or for everyone so Peter wants to know wait

does this apply to us or is it just for everyone who's this parable addressed to it's fascinating here that Jesus responds of course with a question you asked you to question you can basically Bank on the fact that he's gonna respond with a question and if you know anyone who does this it could be a little annoying right you know if you ask a question and they respond with the question and ask a question professors like to do this kind of thing anyway it's a good teaching method though because it helps the person it leads

them to the truth you want them to lead to be led to but in an active way so when Peter asked the question Jesus says well who then is the faithful and wise steward whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time now pause there he's going to go into a parable here about a you know servants who are ready for their master and do what sir they're supposed to and servants who art but I can't help but notice here that he's responding to Peter with

the story of a steward who is set over the Masters household and put in charge of all of his possessions the reason I bring that up is in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom and says whatever you bind is bound in heaven and whatever you loose is loosed in heaven it's an allusion to Isaiah 22 where le Hakeem is made the chief steward over the house of King David in the Old Testament there was this figure called The Alibi II literally the over the house sometimes he's

called a prime minister but chief steward would be a better translation so the chief steward in the Old Testament was second only to the king and he had the authority of the King to bind and loose and he held the keys of the kingdom right that's how you knew who the chief steward was well it's fascinating that Peter in Matthew 16 is being described as the chief steward of the kingdom of God Jesus gives him the keys of the kingdom in Luke it's interesting here in chapter 12 when Peter says hey are you telling this

parable for us Jesus says well who is the faithful steward whom the master sets over his household it's the exact same expression they're the over the house in the Old Testament with regard to the kingdom was the chief steward of King David now Jesus talked about a parable of a chief steward of the Masters household which is basically the role that Peters gonna take as chief of the Twelve Apostles he's second in rank only to Jesus himself alright that's just a little side note but it's kind of interesting there in any case it leads into

a parable in which Jesus gives another beatitude blessed is the servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing truly I tell you he will set him over all his possessions but if the servant says to himself my master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the menservants and maidservants eat and drink and get drunk the master of that servant will come on a day when he doesn't expect him at an hour he doesn't know and the RSV says will punish him and put him with the faithful but literally it says will

cut him in two or cut him in pieces will dismember him and put him with the unfaithful the oppos'd so the unbelievers the unfaithful so press pause there so what Jesus is doing in this parable is he's going to give four different outcomes four different fates for four different kinds of servants and I want you to pay close attention to what these four servants are the first one is the servant who does what his master wills him to do and who's ready for his return that servant will be set over all the Masters possessions that's

the first serve the second one is the one who says my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink and get drunk what happens to that servant he gets cut in two and put with the unfaithful right now if you press pause right there one more time these are clearly images of entering into the kingdom of God or being cast out of the kingdom into the punishment of Gehenna right we'll see this elsewhere in the Gospels right you know enter into the glory of the kingdom that's what Jesus

is describing here if he were being set over all his possessions he's entering to the Masters household the Masters Kingdom if this is a parable and it's an allegory for the kingdom of God then the good servant is rewarded by being elevated in the kingdom right you humbles himself will be exalted and then the wicked servant goes to Gehenna or goes to hell right experiences punishment and put with the unfaithful think here about other places where Jesus says you know they'll be cast into the outer darkness where there's a weeping and gnashing of teeth here

the servant is cast among the unfaithful now if this parable were written by a later Christian in the Protestant tradition who only believed those were the two fates possible it should have stopped there but there are two other outcomes that Jesus gives us in this parable and it's really fascinating there's a third servant is the servant who knew his master's will but didn't prepare or act according to his will okay so in other words this servant isn't ready for his master to come but unlike the wicked servant he doesn't start abusing other people right he's

not getting drunk he's not beating his fellow menservants and maidservants he's just not as ready as he should be he's not ready for the Masters return so what's his punishment it doesn't say that he's cut into or put with the unfaithful it says that he receives a severe beating right and then the fourth servant is a different one this is the one who didn't know his master's will but did would deserve the beating that person shall receive a light beating all right so this servant is what later moral theologians would call invincibly ignorant in other

words they didn't know what the Masters commands were for whatever reason and they did not prepare they did what deserved a beating like the third servant but they were less culpable because they didn't know what they were supposed to do they receive a light beating now it should be pointed out that this image of a master beating his servants is obviously going to be repugnant right especially for modern-day readers but in antiquity servants and slaves would have been part of the ancient landscape so Jesus is using what people know earthly realities to illustrate what they

don't understand which is the kingdom of God eternal realities so if the first blessed servant is image of their being rewarded in heaven the second wicked servant is an image of being punished forever in hell then one of these other two servants who receive either a severe beating or a light beating well I'll let you figure that out no no I won't let you figure it out I will answer for you this this is obviously an image of eschatological punishment right it is a beating so there is a punishment ball but it's temporary not permanent

right because that the second serve and how was he punished by being cut into now apart from modern medicine medical methods that was a permanent condition in antiquity if someone cut you in two you would remain cut in two right it's an image of death but the beating means that it is a finite temporary punishment this image will go on to lay a foundation in Jesus's own teaching for the later church doctrine that comes to be known as purgatory the idea that after death at our judgment there are some people whose sins will not be

so grave that they're cast in the outer darkness of Gehenna but yet at the same time their deeds are not so righteous that they would enter immediately into the glory of the kingdom but that they must be purified and experience the temporal punishment for venial sin that their sins require that the justice requires before they can be purified and enter into the kingdom of heaven well that's the last two servants in the parable right this punishment a purgatory can be severe for some people who knew what was wrong and did it anyway um this is

why deliberate venial sin is by the way not something to play around with sometimes Catholics make light a venial sin v no no deliberate V no sin is not something to play around with oh then there's venial sin in which the person is unaware that it's even wrong and I'm sure you can partake of examples of that as well those sins still have consequences the servant in the parable still is punished but it's a lighter punishment literally light is the word venial that's what venial means right it's a lighter punishment than those who knew what

was wrong and did it anyway so sometimes you know people will say dr. Petrie where is doctor and purgatory in the Bible there's lots of different places you can point to you can point to second Maccabees 12 where they're praying for the dead you can point to Paul 1st Corinthians 3 about being saved through fire but what people often don't do is actually point to Jesus in the Gospels Jesus is parable here in Luke chapter 12 gives us one of the clearest scriptural foundations for the fact that heaven and hell are not the only eschatological

options when it comes to judgment there's also a third area third realm which is a temporary punishment for sin that doesn't exclude one ultimately from the kingdom but uh but has to be undergone before you can enter into the joy of the Masters household [Music] you