gregoryjenks

Author: Gregory C. Jenks

  • Lent 2C (24 February 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 and Psalm 27
    • Philippians 3:17-4:1
    • Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

    Despite the usual high degree of convergence in the lectionary texts during Lent, this week we see several options for the Gospel:

    • RCL: Luke 13:31-35
    • RCL alternative: Luke 9:28-36
    • RC: Luke 9:28b-36
    • ECUSA: Luke 13:(22-30)31-35
    • Australian Anglican: Luke 13:1-9

    If your community is using the Transfiguration readings this weekend, you may wish to consult the notes from the Last Sunday after Epiphany.

    This week’s notes will focus on the text in Luke 13:31-35, and specifically Jesus’ prophetic oracle against Jerusalem.

    Jesus and the Jerusalem Temple

    The traditional material dealing with Jesus’ words about the temple’s fate is particularly complex. That, in itself, may be an indicator of the sensitivity of the core question for Jesus’ earliest followers and especially so after the Jewish War of 66/73CE ended with the temple in ruins.

    There seem to be four intertwined traditions that have an explicit reference to the fate of the temple:

    1. A saying of Jesus threatening to destroy the temple
    2. A saying where Jesus foretells the siege of the city and its destruction
    3. A saying of Jesus predicting total destruction of the imposing structures (not one stone upon another)
    4. An incident where Jesus threatened or symbolically enacted the destruction of the temple

    The sources are cited in full in the Jesus Database but can be listed as follows:

    (1) Thom 71
    (2a) Mark 13:1-2 = Matt 24:1-2 = Luke 21:5-6*
    (2b) Luke 19:41-44*
    (2c) Mark 14:55-59 = Matt 26:59-61
    (2d) Mark 15:29-32a = Matt 27:39-43= (!)Luke 23:35-37
    (2e) Acts 6:11-14
    (2f) Mark 11:15-17 = Matt 21:12-13 = Luke 19:45-46
    (2g) Luke 13:34-35*
    (2h) Mark 13:14a = Matt 24.15a = Luke 21:20* (3a) John 2:13-17*
    (3b) John 2:18-22

    Texts marked with * are not in Crossan’s inventory of early Jesus traditions, but they are included in his Sayings Parallels:

    • 191. Jerusalem Indicted;
    • 449. Temple’s Symbolic Destruction;
    • 456. Temple’s Actual Destruction;
    • 457. Jerusalem Destroyed;
    • 466. Temple and Jesus.

    (Note: The item numbers in that collection do not match with numbers used in his later inventory that forms the basis of the Jesus Database.)

    Josephus, Jewish War 6.300-305

    The 1C Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, has left us a fascinating description of prophecies against the city, this time featuring a later Jesus:

    Four years before the war [62 CE], when the city was at peace and enjoying the greatest prosperity, an uneducated peasant, one Jesus ben Hananiah came to the feast when all the people make booths for God [i.e., Sukkoth]. 301Suddenly he began to cry out through the temple:

    A voice from the East, a voice from the West,
    a voice from the four winds:
    a voice against Jerusalem and the temple,
    a voice against the bridegroom and the bride
    a voice against all the people!

    Crying this day and night he went through all the streets. 302But some of the prominent citizens, upset by this evil announcement, arrested the man and tortured him with many blows. But without a sound concerning himself or for the persons of his persecutors, he kept on crying the “voices” as before.
    303So thinking that the man was moved by some greater force, as indeed he was, the rulers brought him up before the Roman governor. 304Although he was there flayed to the bone by scourges, he neither begged nor wailed. But bending his “voices” to greater laments, he responded to each blow: “Woe to Jerusalem!” 305When Albinus,…who was then governor, asked him who he was and where he was from and why he uttered these things, he did not respond at all to these questions. But he would not stop repeating his lament for the city, until Albinus judged him a madman and released him.

    [SOURCE: Mahlon Smith, Into His Own ]

    Marcus J. Borg

    Borg devotes chapter 7 of his Conflict, Holiness and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus to a discussion of Jesus and the Temple, with an extended treatment of the texts found in this cluster.

    He begins with a brief study of Temple ideology in the Second Temple period, citing the interesting parallel from Paul in 1 Cor 3:16-17 which retains that traditional ideology even when reinterpreting “temple” as a reference to the physical body of the Christian:

    Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
    17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

    Like Crossan (see below), Borg understands the “disruption in the Temple” as a prophetic or symbolic act (p. 182) that would never have been without some prophetic pronouncement to clarify its significance (p. 184).

    Borg then directs his attention to the prophetic saying as attested by the complex set of sayings relating to the fate of Jerusalem and its Temple that are placed on the lips of Jesus in our sources. He identifies 8 texts as example of “words against the Temple” and works his way through them carefully. Four of these sayings (Mark 14:58; 15:29-30; John 2:19; Acts 6:14) speak of Jesus as the agent of the Temple’s destruction and promise its replacement. They are also typically attributed to the enemies of Jesus. Another set of 4 sayings (Mark 13:2; Luke 19:42-44; 21:20-24; 13:34-35) are more likely to have originated from the prophetic oracle of Jesus that must have accompanied his symbolic act in the Temple. Borg also associates the enigmatic “desolating sacrilege” saying with this group.

    … if Jesus did not prophesy about Jerusalem, then who was the insightful prophet in that generation [after him] who was responsible for both this concern and this use of the Hebrew Bible? Of course, the rhetorical question does not imply that the oracles contain the ipsissima verba Jesus, but it does imply that they reflect the ipsissima vox Jesus. Quite probably the Jesus movement and perhaps the evangelist reworked the language of the threats, but without an initial impulse from Jesus, it is difficult to account for their presence in the primitive tradition. (p. 203)

    Then Borg draws upon the sayings of Jesus that speak of a threat of war coming on the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Luke 13:1-5; 23:27-31; 17:31 (= Mark 13:14b-16); Matt 26:52b.

    Unlike Crossan, Borg observes that Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s destruction was not because Jesus opposed the Temple:

    … the destruction was not threatened because of an in-principle objection to Temple worship … Indeed, about the role of the Temple in Jewish worship (including sacrifice), Jesus did not say much. There is only the vague notion of “another Temple” coming from the mouths of accusers and mockers. Though the early Christian movement rapidly spiritualized the understanding of the Temple … there is little evidence for this in the synoptics. They never report that Jesus opposed the Temple on the grounds that it was obsolete, or that he objected to sacrifice in principle. Indeed, about the Temple as cult there is silence. (p. 211)

     

    John Dominic Crossan

    Crossan [Historical Jesus, 354-60] begins by noting the work of Jonathan Z. Smith (“The Temple and the Magician,” 1977) who established that a deep tension between traditional sacred places and the emerging role of the sacred person was typical of hellenistic societies in the last two centuries before the Common Era. Crossan goes on to outline the structural conflict between Jesus and the Temple as follows:

    Not only John the Baptist but, even more, Jesus, fit within that wider and profounder antinomy. John offered an alternative to the Temple but from another fixed location, from desert and Jordan rather than from Zion and Jerusalem. Jesus was, as we have seen, atopic, moving from place to place, he coming to the people rather than they to him. This is an even more radical challenge to the localized univocity of Jerusalem’s Temple, and its itinerancy mirrored and symbolized the egalitarian challenge of its protagonist. No matter, therefore, what Jesus thought, said, or did about the Temple, he was its functional opponent, alternative, and substitute; his relationship with it does not depend, at its deepest level, on this or that saying, this or that action. (p. 355)

    In seeking to unravel the complexities represented in this cluster of sayings, Crossan notes the “intensive damage control” to be observed in Mark 13, 14 and 15. Mark is at pains to argue that Jesus did not threaten to destroy the Temple himself; only his enemies make that assertion in Mark’s Gospel while Jesus (in ch 13) pointedly schedules the destruction of Jerusalem some time prior to the parousia of the Son of Adam. Still, as Crossan observes, that Markan spin only seeks to underline the fact that in certain Christian circles prior to and contemporary with Mark, there had been a belief that Jesus had said or done something to threaten destruction of the Temple and also that the destruction of the Temple was understood to be associated with the parousia.

    Behind the confused set of sayings about the fate of the Temple there lies the incident in which Jesus is described as taking some action to disrupt the functioning of the Temple. We seem to have two independent versions of this tradition: Mark (with Matt and Luke parallels) and John (where it occurs near the start of Jesus’ ministry). Mark’s version makes it clear that this event was a prophetic condemnation of the Temple, as the events in the Temple are bracketed by the story of Jesus cursing a useless fig tree and then returning to find it withered and dead.

    Crossan proposes that there was some historical action by Jesus that symbolically destroyed to Temple (at least to the extent of some disruption to its functioning), and that this action was accompanied by a prophetic saying by Jesus in which he foretold the complete and utter destruction of the site.

    Subsequently, according to Crossan, the story of the action in the Temple developed with various biblical texts being drawn into service to explain and justify Jesus’ actions. Meanwhile the saying came to reinterpreted as either a reference to the resurrection or to the parousia.

    Paula Fredriksen

    Fredriksen [Jesus of Nazareth, 207-14] discusses the so-called “Cleansing of the Temple” — a label she rejects but still uses as a sub-heading in her text. She works from a concern to counter any historical method that opposes Jesus to his contemporaries over issues of ritual observance. Drawing on Josephus’ description of the Jews’ universal piety and reverence for the Temple’s rites, Fredriksen asks “how then do we fit this report of Jesus’ action into the solid evidence we have that Jews everywhere overwhelmingly supported the Temple service?” (p. 209)

    In addition to other gospel accounts of Jesus’ attitude to the Temple, Fredriksen cites the widespread apocalyptic “expectation that, in the new age, in God’s kingdom, God would splendidly renew the current Temple or establish a new and more glorious one.” (p. 210) She then concludes that Jesus’ action in the Temple had a symbolic meaning:

    By overturning the tables, Jesus was symbolically enacting an apocalyptic prophecy: The current Temple was soon to be destroyed (understood: not by Jesus, nor by invading armies; but by God), to cede place to the eschatological Temple (understood: not built by the hand of man) at the close of the age. (p. 210)

     

    Jesus Seminar

    While “a substantial majority of the Fellows agreed that Jesus spoke some word against the temple” [The Five Gospels, 108], the weighted average reduced the outcome to Gray. Note the summary in Acts of Jesus (p. 121):

    The Fellows of the Jesus Seminar approved on three different occasions over a ten-year period the statement that Jesus performed some anti-temple act and spoke some word against the temple. More than a hundred scholars participated in these affirmations. In spite of the confidence that some historical event underlies the report of Mark, the Fellows have had serious difficulty in pinpointing what Jesus actually did.

     

    Gerd Lüdemann

    Lüdemann [Jesus, 77f & 87f] considers Mark 13 to be a Christian reworking of an earlier Jewish apocalypse created during the crisis over Claudius’ plans to erect a statue of himself in the Temple. However, he regards the saying in 13:2 as coming from traditional sources before it was used here by Mark. He also accepts the historicity of some incident in the Temple as the basis for the accusation that Jesus had threatened/announced its destruction.

    Muslim Jesus Traditions

    Tarif Khalidi [The Muslim Jesus, p. 91] provides the following example of how this memory of Jesus continued to function within the Muslim tradition long after the 1C:

    /71/ The disciples said, “Christ of God, look at the house of God—how beautiful it is!” He replied, “Amen, Amen, Truly I say to you, God will not leave one stone of this mosque upon another but will destroy it utterly because of the sins of its people. God does nothing with gold, silver, or these stones. More dear to God than all these are the pure in heart. Through them, God builds up the earth, or else destroys it if these hearts are other than pure. [mid-ninth century CE]

    Jesus Database

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

     

    Music Suggestions

    See David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • Lent 1C (17 February 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Deuteronomy 26:1-11 & Ps 91:1-2,9-16
    • Romans 10:8b-13
    • Luke 4:1-13

    Introduction: Times and Seasons

    This week sees the beginning of the most tightly structured of the liturgical seasons as we move towards Easter:

    • SHROVE TUESDAY (in French, Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday”) has its origins in the need to consume any remaining eggs and fat prior to the commencement of the austerities of the Lenten fast. These days pancake parties provide an opportunity for a final celebration before we settle down to some serious spiritual efforts during Lent.
    • ASH WEDNESDAY marks the formal commencement of Lent, and is timed to allow 40 days of fasting without counting the Sundays (since they are always little festivals of the resurrection, and cannot be counted as a fast day). In the ancient church, people who had sinned so badly that they had been excluded from church life could prepare for readmission by public penance, including being marked with ashes as a sign of sorrow for their sins. From as early as 1,000 CE we find the rest of the community of faith was encouraged also to receive the ashes of repentance as a reminder that we have all sinned, and that all of us need constant forgiveness and restoration.
    • LENT is an extended period of personal and communal preparation for the great celebration of Easter. The idea of “giving something up for Lent” is familiar to a great many people, but these days we are often encouraged to take something up instead. The extra commitment that is the heart of our Lenten discipline may take the form of more regular attendance at worship, joining a study and discussion program, reviewing our personal priorities and values, or giving some additional time or financial support to peace and justice projects.
    • HOLY WEEK turns our attention to the commemoration of Jesus’ final days, beginning with the processions and songs of Palm Sunday through to his death on the cross and then the joy of Easter morning.

    The Scripture selections during this season will be as follows:

    Lent 1
    Deut 26:1-11 & Ps 91
    Romans 10:8b-13
    Luke 4:1-13

    Lent 2
    Gen 15:1-12,17-18 & Ps 27
    Phil 3:17-4:1
    Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28b-36

    Lent 3
    Isa 55:1-9 & Ps 63:1-8, or Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15
    1Cor 10:1-13
    Luke 13:1-9

    Lent 4
    Josh 5:9-12 & Ps 32
    2Cor 5:16-21
    Luke 15:1-3,11b-32

    Lent 5
    Isa 43:16-21 & Ps 126
    Phil 3:4b-14
    John 12:1-8

    Jesus Tempted Three Times

    The idea of the hero facing various tests, including temptations to sell out to the dark side or to embrace a lesser good rather than pursue his high destiny, is a common theme in folk lore. Various parallels in Jewish texts, as well as similar traditions about the Buddha (and Muslim traditions about the temptations of Jesus), are listed at:

    Mark has a just a very brief tradition of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness:

    And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
    13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;
    and the angels waited on him. [Mark 1:12-13]

    The Sayings Gospel Q — dated well before Mark by most NT scholars and thus a compilation more or less contemporary with the letters of Paul — already develops the tradition into a narrative with the familiar three episodes. The triple episodes most likely reflect the story-teller’s craft: both as an aid to his own memory and also for its impact on the audience. Despite the change in order of the Temple temptation, the close verbal similarity between the versions in Matthew and Luke is clear:


    The Jesus Seminar judgment on this tradition is seen in the following extract from The Acts of Jesus:

    In spite of the fact that these stories are legends, the Fellows were about evenly divided on whether Jesus went on a vision quest in the desert, or whether he fasted for an extended period and got hungry as a result. It seems plausible that he did so as he worked out his relation to John the Baptist and contemplated the future of his own work. Simple plausibility, however, can be a cruel friend to historical reconstruction, tempting the historian to assert facts when there is only speculation …
    In each temptation Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy … where Moses is described receiving the Law from Yahweh on Mount Sinai. The temptation story is thus a retelling of that ancient story but substituting Jesus for Moses. Just as Moses and Israel were tempted during their forty years in the wilderness, so Jesus was tempted during his forty days in the wilderness. Israel was tempted by hunger; that hunger was sated by the “manna that fell from heaven” each day. Jesus is tempted by hunger but refuses to turn stones into bread. Israel was tempted by idolatry; Jesus is tempted to worship Satan. In Jewish lore, this kind of retelling, or reimagining, is called haggadah.
    In Matthew, the temptations of Jesus are arranged in a spatial progress from low to high: first he is taken to the desert, then placed on the pinnacle of the temple, then carried to a high mountain. This corresponds to the progression in Matthew’s gospel: Jesus’ ministry begins in the desert and ends on a mountain in Galilee from which he ascends. Luke has altered the order of the temptations in order to have Jesus wind up in Jerusalem: for Luke Jerusalem is the navel of the earth, where the story begins and ends.

    John Dominic Crossan [The Historical Jesus] offers the following comments on the social location of those responsible for shaping this tradition:

    The basis of that triple temptation is an opposition between magic and exegesis, between miraculous activity and exegetical citation. Miracles are dismissed, obliquely, as self-serving acts such as turning stones into bread when one is hungry, as temptations such as descending from the pinnacle of the Temple, or as demonic collusion such as gaining the world by obeying Satan. Jesus overcomes Satan, and even his quotation of Psalm 91:11-12, by three separate quotations from Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13. But that opposition between magic and exegesis also represents a distinction in class. Even though, in Lenksi’s typology, the peasant class is not the only one that could appreciate magic, it would take the retainer class to appreciate the scribal exactitude of such exegetical quotations. Peasants would, know, in their Little Tradition, the general themes and dominant emphases of the Great Tradition. But their illiteracy would preclude the fuel of citation practiced here by Satan and Jesus. All such precise search and verbatim application presume not only developed literacy but also exegetical dexterity. A retainer-class believer is now interpreting the peasant-class Jesus.

    Jesus Database

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

    Music Suggestions

    See David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • The Once and Future Scriptures

    OnceFutureScriptures_smallThe Once and Future Scriptures: Exploring the Role of the Bible in the Contemporary Church.

    Edited by Gregory C. Jenks | Foreword by Archbishop Phillip Aspinall
    Polebridge Press/Mosaic Publications, February 2013 | ISBN 978-159815-120-6

    Contributors: Peter Catt, Susan Crothers-Robertson, Marian Free, Gregory Jenks, Nigel Leaves, Steven Ogden, and Catherine Thomson.

    This collection of essays by priests from the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane explores the role of the Bible in the contemporary church. Embracing critical scholarship and the cultural challenges of our present times, senior clergy of the Diocese bring their hearts and their minds together in the service of the Gospel.

    Table of Contents

    Foreword
    Archbishop Phillip Aspinall

    Introduction
    Gregory C. Jenks

    1. The ‘problem’ of the Bible.
      Gregory C. Jenks
    2. Scripture as normative source in theology.
      Catherine Thomson
    3. Wisdom as well as facts.
      Steven Ogden
    4. Scripture, God-talk and Jesus.
      Nigel Leaves
    5. Scripture and formation for ministry.
      Susan Crothers-Robertson
    6. The Bible and liturgy.
      Marian Free
    7. Scripture, Science and the big story.
      Peter Catt

    Contributors

    Phillip Aspinall is Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia.

    Peter Catt is Dean of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane. Peter has degrees in Science and Theology. While Dean of Grafton Cathedral he established the International Festival of Philosophy, Science and Theology.

    Susan Crothers-Robertson is Director of Formation at St Francis Theological College, Brisbane and an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. Her doctoral research is investigating models of ministry formation within the Anglican Communion that are responsive to the realities of current and future church contexts.

    Marian Free has a PhD in New Testament from the University of Queensland, and is an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. She teaches classes in New Testament and Christian Worship at St Francis Theological College. Marian is a Canon of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane and Rector of St Augustine’s Parish, Hamilton in Brisbane.

    Gregory Jenks is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University and Academic Dean of St Francis Theological College, Brisbane; Co-Director of the Bethsaida Excavations Project, Israel; and a Fellow of the Westar Institute, Willamette University. His publications include The Once and Future Bible: An Introduction to the Bible for Religious Progressives (2011) and The Origins and Early Development of the Antichrist Myth (1991).

    Nigel Leaves is Canon of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane and an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate classes in Theology at St Francis Theological College. His publications include Religion Under Attack: Getting Theology Right! (2011), The God Problem: Alternatives to Fundamentalism (2006), Surfing on the Sea of Faith: The Religion and Ethics of Don Cupitt (2005), and Odyssey on the Sea of Faith: The Life and Writings of Don Cupitt (2004).

    Steven Ogden is Principal of St Francis Theological College, Brisbane, and an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. He was formerly Dean of St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide. He is author of Love Upside Down: Life, Love and the Subversive Jesus (2011), I met God in Bermuda: Faith in the Twenty-First Century (2009), and The Presence of God in the World (2007).

    Cathy Thomson has a PhD in Theology from Flinders University of South Australia, and is currently the Rector of Christ Church, St Lucia in Brisbane.  A member of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission, Cathy is an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University and teaches Theology at St Francis Theological College. She is co-editor of Ordination of Women: Interdenominational Perspectives (2006, with Victor C. Pfitzner), a contributor to Faithfulness in Fellowship (2001), and co-editor of Faithfulness in Fellowship: A Study Guide (2003, with Muriel Porter).

    Available from …

    The Cathedral Shop
    St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane
    07 3835 2281 or thecathedralshop@anglicanbrisbane.org.au

    Mosaic Resources

    MosaicResources

     

     

    Polebridge Press

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  • Transfiguration Sunday (10 February 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Exod 34:29-35 & Ps 99
    • 2Cor 3:12-4:2
    • Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

    Introduction: Transfiguration Sunday

    In the Revised Common Lectionary the Sunday before Ash Wednesday is designated as Transfiguration Sunday, to provide a fitting conclusion to the Epiphany season. In communities that follow this sequence, the traditional Transfiguration theme on the Second Sunday of Lent is replaced by a more generic lenten set of lections. In Roman Catholic parishes and some other faith communities, the readings for Proper 5C will be used on this day.

    Transfiguration: the Underlying Tradition

    Crossan identifies the resurrection scene from GPeter as part of a very early document that he calls the Cross Gospel, and which he argues was the original passion narrative:

    GPet 35-40 (= ch2 9-10)

    /34/ Early, at first light on the sabbath, a crowd came from Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside to see the sealed tomb. /35/ But during the night before the Lord’s day dawned, while the soldiers were on guard, two by two during each watch, a loud noise came from the sky, /36/ and they saw the skies open up and two men come down from there in a burst of light and approach the tomb. /37/ The stone that had been pushed against the entrance began to roll by itself and moved away to one side; then the tomb opened up and both young men went inside.

    /38/ Now when these soldiers saw this, they roused the centurion from his sleep, along with the elders. (Remember, they were also there keeping watch.) /39/ While they were explaining what they had seen, again they see three men leaving the tomb, two supporting the third, and a cross was following them. /40/ The heads of the two reached up to the sky, while the head of the third, whom they led by the hand, reached beyond the skies. /41/ And they heard a voice from the skies that said, “Have you preached to those who sleep?” /42/ And an answer was heard from the cross: “Yes!” [Complete Gospels]

    In the Synoptic Gospels, the Transfiguration story appears as an event during Jesus’ lifetime with slight variations as set out this horizontal line synopsis.

    Finally, there is the reference to the Transfiguration from 2 Peter 1:17–18:

    17For he received honor and glory from God the Father
    when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying,
    “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well-pleased.”
    18/We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven,
    while we were with him on the holy mountain. [Complete Gospels]

    Comments

    In Mark’s original narrative — from which Luke develops his version of this story — the event which stands before the “six days later” is a comment by Jesus concerning the coming of the Son of Man in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, after which Jesus is represented as saying, “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God has come with power.” Since there is no reason to assume that the location of the transfiguration is due to anything other than Mark’s editorial decisions, the proximity between the promise and its possible fulfillment in the transfiguration is worth noting. While we tend to think of winged creatures in white gowns when we read “holy angels” the original meaning is closer to “holy messengers” and could easily encompass Moses and Elijah.

    The transfiguration itself is difficult to categorise. It seems to have some echoes of the baptism traditions with the heavenly voice affirming the beloved Son. Yet many scholars have wondered if this is not a displaced (and possibly garbled) Easter appearance story. The other alternative, that it may be an authentic religious experience that Jesus underwent and which was witnessed by a handful of his most intimate followers, also needs to be kept in mind.

    Bruce Chilton (in Rabbi Jesus) has argued that Jesus was initiated into the Jewish mystical traditions while a disciple of John the Baptist. While that cannot be established beyond question, we should not exclude the possibility that Jesus’ own sense of identity and mission was formed and nourished by profound religious experiences. Certainly others in the early Christian movement had such experiences, in which Jesus himself played a critical role.

    The words of the Jewish Jesus scholar, David Flusser, concerning Jesus’ baptism are worth noting here:

    We can well imagine the holy excitement of that crowd who had listened to the words of the Baptist. Having confessed their sins and awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit to cleanse their souls from all the filth of sin, they plunged their bodies into the cleansing water of the river. Can it be that none of them would have had a special pneumatic-ecstatic experience in that hour when the Spirit of God touched them? (Jesus, p. 40)

    … many scholars are right in thinking that in the original account, the heavenly voice announced to Jesus, “Behold, My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1). This form is probably the original, for the reason that the prophetic word fits the situation. (Jesus, p. 41)

    The gift of the Holy Spirit assumed a significance for Jesus that was different than for others who were baptized by John. Heavenly voices were not an uncommon phenomenon among the Jews of those days, and frequently those voices were heard to utter verses from scripture. Endowment with the Holy Spirit, accompanied by an ecstatic experience, was apparently something that happened to others who were baptized in John’s presence in the Jordan. (Jesus, p. 42)

    If, however, the heavenly voice intoned the words of Isaiah, Jesus must have understood that he was being set apart as the servant of God, the Chosen One. For him, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was part of John’s baptism, held another special significance that was to become decisive for his future. None of the designations Son, Servant or Chosen One were exclusively messianic titles–the last two could also denote the special status of the prophetic office. By these titles, Jesus learned that he was now called, chosen, set apart. Nothing we have learned casts any doubt upon the historicity of Jesus’ experience at his baptism in the Jordan. (Jesus, p. 42)

    The presence of just the inner circle may be an authentic memory, or a bit of promotion to bolster their standing within the community. Given Mark’s generally critical attitude to the apostolic circle, it is unlikely that he added their names to the tradition. That detail was most likely already in the story as he received it and Luke has simply preserved the information intact.

    The location of the transfiguration up a high mountain is what the tradition would lead us to expect. High mountains were sacred places and thus ideal sites for theophanies. According to Jewish tradition, Moses spent 6 weeks (40 days) up the “mountain of God” in Sinai when getting a replacement copy of the Ten Commandments. Elijah retired to a mountain cave for his theophany. While no specific location is named in the gospels, later tradition chose to identify the “mount of the transfiguration” as Mt Hermon, the highest peak in the Galilee.

    More recently, Mt tabor has been celebrated as the site for the Transfiguration story. The wild taxi ride up the narrow winding road to the summit is almost enough to induce a vision of God in the contemporary pilgrim, but the clam setting at the top of this mountain invites us into reflection and an experience of holy silence.

    The appearance of Moses and Elijah alongside Jesus is a powerful claim to spiritual continuity with the most sacred traditions of ancient Israel. Interestingly, Luke does not follow Mark when he lists Elijah first. This reverses their chronological sequence in the biblical narrative, and flies in the face of later views of the relative significance of Moses and Elijah. However, that may reflect the significance of Elijah as the expected prophet of the End times. In general terms, their presence alongside Jesus speaks to the claim that Jesus was fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.

    Jesus Database

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

    Music Suggestions

    See David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • Epiphany 4C (3 February 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Psalm 71:1-6
    • 1Corinthians 13:1-13
    • Luke 4:21-30

     

    Introduction

    This week’s Gospel continues with Luke’s story of Jesus visiting – and being rejected by – his home town. These notes focus on Nazareth and on the strange failure of Jesus to secure the loyalty of those who knew him best.

    Ancient Nazareth

    Nazareth in 1C Galilee was an insignificant village whose many centuries of existence had left no trace in the public record. Mahlon Smith sums up the situation as follows:

    Tombs & agricultural evidence (silos, cisterns, olive & wine presses) provide concrete evidence that the site was inhabited from the early days of Israelite occupation of the land [12th c. BCE]. But since it had only one spring, the ancient settlement was never large. The 1st c. village, whose population was less than 500, was overshadowed by the fortified town of Japha just one mile south—described by Josephus as the “largest village in Galilee” (Vita 230)—and the city of Sepphoris, just 3.5 miles to the northwest.

    Nazareth itself was not a site of historic or major strategic importance &, thus, did not merit notice in any ancient text apart from the gospel references to it as the place of Jesus’ origin. The earliest non-Christian reference is an inscription discovered in the synagogue of Caesarea Maritima that names Nazareth as one of the places in Galilee where the priestly families of Judea migrated after the Hadrianic war [135 CE]. But Nazareth remained a small Jewish village until the 4th c. CE when Constantine constructed a church that became a center for Christian pilgrimages. It was elevated to the status of city in the 7th c. CE. Since the 17th c. the Franciscans have developed it into the largest Christian center in the land of Israel. Into His Own: Nazareth

    While John P. Meier [A Marginal Jew, 1:280] claims a population of 1,600-2,000 people in the time of Jesus, this seems impossible and most scholars suggest a far lower population. In his article on Nazareth for the Anchor Bible Dictionary, James F. Strange offers the following calculation:

    As inferred from the Herodian tombs in Nazareth, the maximum extent of the Herodian and pre-Herodian village measured about 900 x 200 m, for a total area just under 60 acres. Since most of this was empty space in antiquity, the population would have been a maximum of about 480 at the beginning of the 1st century A.D. (ABD 4,1050-1051)

     

    Other online resources for ancient Nazareth:

     

    In December 2009, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of house in Nazareth dating to the first century. The new finds are in close proximity to other structures located adjacent to and below the Basilica of the Annunciation, as can be seen the the second of the two photographs here.

    Nazareth house aerial.jpg Nazareth house location.jpg

     

    Nazareth in the New Testament

    There are 29 references to Nazareth in the Bible. They all occur in the NT Gospels. The place of Jesus’ childhood is not mentioned in any other parts of the NT, and it plays no part in the traditions found in the Hebrew Bible.

    • Mark has 5 references to Nazareth: Mark 1:9; 1:24; 10:47; 14:67; 16:6
    • Matthew mentions the place 4 times: Matt 2:23; 4:13; 21:11; 26:71
    • John has 5 references to Nazareth: John 1:45,46; 18:5,7; 19:19
    • In Luke-Acts the town is mentioned 15 times: Luke 1:26; 2:4; 2:39; 2:51; 4:16; 4:34; 18:37; 24:19; and Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 10:38; 22:8; 26:9

    These fall into a number of categories:

    Infancy and Childhood

    • When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There [Joseph] made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.” (Matt 2:19-23 NRSV)
    • In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27 NRSV)
    • Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. (Luke 2:4 NRSV)
    • When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. (Luke 2:39-40 NRSV)
    • Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:51 NRSV)

     

    Jesus in Judea with John the Baptist

    • In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11 NRSV)
    • Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46 NRSV)

     

    Galilee Ministry

    • When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. (Luke 4:16-17 NRSV)
    • Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt 4:12-17 NRSV)
    • Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” (Mark 1:23-25 NRSV) = In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” (Luke 4:33-35 NRSV)
    • As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-47 NRSV) = As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:35-38 NRSV)

     

    Last days in Jerusalem

    • When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matt 21:10-11 NRSV)
    • While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.” (Mark 14:66 NRSV) = Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” (Matt 26:69-72 NRSV)
    • Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” (John 18:4-8 NRSV)
    • Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” (John 19:19 NRSV)

     

    In the post-Easter traditions of the early Christians

    • As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. (Mark 16:5-6 NRSV)
    • Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. (Luke 24:18-20 NRSV)
    • “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. (Acts 2:22-23 NRSV)
    • Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” (Acts 3:6 NRSV)
    • Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ (Acts 4:8-11 NRSV)
    • They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.” (Acts 6:13-14 NRSV)
    • That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (Acts 10:37-38 NRSV)
    • “While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’ (Acts 22:6-8 NRSV)
    • “Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. (Acts 26:9-10 NRSV)

    The majority of these references to Nazareth occur as part of the identity formula, “Jesus of Nazareth.” They tell us that Jesus was thought to come from Nazareth, but reveal nothing about the place from which he came. (In contrast, in the references to his birth at Bethlehem the place has a special significance that adds value to the significance of Jesus.)

    Nazareth is given some prominence in Luke’s writings. In part this reflects Luke’s interest in traditions about the childhood of Jesus. As Luke also continues the story beyond Easter, we see this use of Nazareth as an element in the name of Jesus continuing into Acts.

    Interestingly, Paul himself never refers to Jesus in these terms in any of his letters although Luke portrays him doing so in Acts 26:9. This is another of the incidental indications that Luke-Acts was not written by a contemporary of Paul and that the representation of Paul in Acts has little relation to the historical Paul.

     

     

    Jesus rejection by the people of Nazareth

    Luke’s development of this story as the major opening scene in his account of Jesus’ adult activity poses questions about historicity and meaning.

    On one level, there is no reason to doubt that Jesus visited Nazareth from time to time during his public ministry. It is also clear that he seems to have made Capernaum, a fishing village on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, his operational base. Yet this scene seems more like a deliberate creation by Luke designed to match the similar scene in Acts 2, where Peter inaugurates the Christian community with his sermon on the Feast of Pentecost.

    There is one further twist to the story.

    While many ancient cities had a significant escarpment as a feature of their natural defences, Nazareth does not. It was a tiny village clinging to the edge of its one small spring. There was no cliff over which the villagers might throw Jesus. Of course, having never visited the place, Luke was not to know that; just as most of his readers ever since have been unaware of the actual geography of Nazareth.

    We may conclude, then, that the scene is the product of Luke’s imagination rather than a memory of some actual event passed on to him by others.

    At the same time, there are elements of historical reality preserved in this fictional episode.

    Whether or not his village neighbors ever conspired to cast him off their imaginary cliff, it remains true that Jesus seems not to have been welcomed by his own people. This may have been as true of his immediate neighbors (as this tradition suggests) as it was of the nation as a whole (as John 1:10-12 and Acts 28:23-30 each express in very different ways)

    At the core of this story lies the saying about a prophet being honored everywhere except at home. This one-liner has been preserved in several different traditions within 1C Christianity. The Gospel of Thomas, the Synoptics, and John all know this tradition:

    • Thom 31 = POxy1 31
    • Mark 6:4 = Matt 13:57-58
    • Luke 4:24
    • John 4:44

    What Luke may have done is to create a story that puts flesh on the bones of this aphorism. The kernel of story can be seen in Mark’s story of Jesus’ visit to Nazareth, although Luke has given it a distinctive twist in keeping with his desire to present Jesus as a dignified hero to his hellenistic readers:

    Horizontal line synopsis

    Click here for a link to a horizontal line synopsis of this episode

    The toughest of all epiphanies

    Whatever historical realities may be preserved in the fictional episode created by Luke, the story invites us to consider that most demanding of all epiphany sites: the place where we are known too well for any pretence or subterfuge to hide our failings.

    The traditions around Jesus suggest that his immediate family, as well as his townsfolk, did not embrace his vision of the Kingdom that is both coming and already here in our midst. Similarly, the experience of Jesus’ earliest followers was that family conflict could erupt when they became disciples. Converts over the centuries have known that reality all too well.

    In the enthusiasm of a new discovery, such conflict can sometimes be deflected. But this story also speaks of the corrosive effect of that contempt which flows from familiarity. What could those close to us teach us that we do not already know? What pearls of great price do we have to share with those within our own intimate circles? How do we “keep the faith” in the enduring ordinariness of everyday life?

    One of the distinctive features of Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom seems to have been to discern the Holy in the everyday, and especially in the Unclean and the Broken. Despite that — or perhaps because of it — Jesus seems not to have been very good at bringing his closest kin with him on the journey. If the tradition is to be trusted, one of the fruits of his personal faithfulness to the call of God on his life was that his family (eventually) became active participants in the community of faith after his death on the cross.

    Ironically, centuries after his life ended on that cross in Jerusalem, even Nazareth would become “Jesus country.” As Mahlon Smith observed in the extract cited earlier, today it is the largest Christian center in Israel. Despite the majority of this people in this modern city being Muslim, they always elect a Christian mayor. Nazareth is, after all, the hometown of Jesus.

     

     

    Jesus Database

     

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

     

    Music Suggestions

    See David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • Epiphany 3C (27 January 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 and Psalm 19
    • 1Corinthians 12:12-31a
    • Luke 4:14-21

     

    Introduction

    This week sees the lectionary cycle move into the main body of narrative material in Luke for the first time since the Year of St Luke began on Advent Sunday. Until this point, the selection of Gospels has been determined by the seasonal requirements of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. After skipping the story of the Temptation (Luke 4:1-13) so that we can return to it for the First Sunday in Lent, the following portions of Luke will be used in the next few weeks:

    • Epiphany 3 — Luke 4:14-21
    • Epiphany 4 — Luke 4:21-30
    • Epiphany 5 — Luke 5:1-11
    • Epiphany 6 — Luke 6:17-26
    • Epiphany 7 — Luke 6:27-38, or
    • Transfiguration — Luke 9:28-36(37-43)

    Noting the passages selected for use also alerts us to those portions of Luke that are excluded from the lectionary cycle:

    In some cases these are omitted because they duplicate passages used last year (Mark) or the previous year (Matthew). However, some passages are deemed worthy of public reading in more than one of the three annual cycles, while a few passages in each Gospel are never selected for reading.

    Thanks to Jenee Woodard of TextWeek.com and Andee Zetterbaum, we now have the benefit of an Excel spreadsheet with the RCL, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist lectionaries keyed to Bible passages so that we can easily check when a particular Bible passage occurs in the lectionary.

     

    Jesus first day at work

    The four NT Gospels each describe Jesus’ “first day on the job” rather differently.

     

    Matthew is content simply to tidy up a few theological embarrassments that he found in Mark’s account:

    • Jesus is no longer a carpenter, but rather the carpenter’s son.
    • Jesus is not described as “the son of Mary,” removing any social stigma that formulation might suggest.
    • Jesus’ inability to perform deeds of power in his hometown is qualified, and the cause is laid on the unbelief of the Nazareth population.

     

    Luke develops the story as a formal inauguration of Jesus’ mission, creating a story that has a role in his Gospel that parallels the role of the Pentecost legend in Acts:

    • Luke’s Jesus is a rather more conventional character, whose “custom” was to attend Sabbath services in the local synagogue.
    • This Jesus is literate, and functions as a respected synagogue member, even taking his turn at reading the Scriptures.
    • Here Jesus explicitly claims that the prophetic texts are being fulfilled in himself, right there that very day.
    • Rather than being offended at his interpretation of the Scriptures, “all spoke well of him.”
    • Jesus is identified as “Joseph’s son” and the low status occupation of carpenter (Gk: tekton) is expunged from the account.
    • There is no mention of his mother, brothers or sisters.
    • Jesus actually provokes his own rejection by an otherwise positive audience when he preempts any request for miracles and identifies his listeners with the recalcitrant Israelites from the times of Elijah and Elisha.
    • Predictably, Luke then described a mob rampage that almost resulted in Jesus being thrown of a (non-existent) cliff in Nazareth except that by force of his own charisma he calmly walked through their midst and escaped the danger.

    Central to all these accounts is the well-attested saying:

    No prophet is welcome on his home turf;
    doctors don’t cure those who know them. [Complete Gospels]

    This saying is known from Thomas, Mark, Luke and John and seems independent of this specific episode. It doubtless preserves a memory of Jesus’ personal experience of rejection by his own nation, whether not these words were actually spoken by him.

    The following simple questions may be helpful in reading these texts closely:

    • WHO? (note the characters in the story)
    • WHAT? (check the events and the flow of the story)
    • WHERE? (at what locations are the events said to occur?)
    • WHEN? (what times and sequences are involved?)
    • WHY? (what explanations are offered or suggested?)

    It seems reasonable to suggest that Matthew, John and Luke have each chosen to give Jesus a suitably auspicious commencement to his public activity:

    • Matthew elaborates Mark’s simple description with prophetic texts to vaidate a GALILEAN ministry by Jesus, and a ministry (by his followers) to the GENTILES (cf. also the adoration of the foreign Magi in 2:1-12 and the risen Lord sending his disciples to make disciples of all nations in 28:19-20).
    • John develops a series of days during which a wider circle of people gradually become aware of his significance, but locates all this in Judea. John the Baptist testifies to Jesus’ significance. First Andrew and Peter, and then Philip and Nathanael, become disciples of Jesus. Jesus — “the son of Joseph from Nazareth” — is to be recognised on the basis of the divine powers he will display as the Gospel unfolds.
    • Luke provides a formal launch of the Jesus mission in the synagogue of his hometown, Nazareth. The scene reflects liturgical practices that were doubtless known to the author and his readers, but probably bears little resemblance to any prayer gathering ever held in Nazareth during the life of Jesus. In keeping with Luke’s concern for social propriety in other parts of Luke-Acts, here we see Jesus announcing his mission and invoking the ancient Jewish Scriptures as his warrant. The sceptical audience — as Luke will often show in his extended narrative — turns into an unruly rabble; while the hero (Jesus in this case, but disciples in other places within Luke-Acts) displays classical fortitude and conducts himself with admirable restraint. This is the kind of man Luke’s respectable audience can respect!

     

    Jesus according to Luke

    As the year unfolds Luke’s particular interpretation of Jesus will become increasingly clear, but already we can see some of the outline from the introductory material Luke has used:

    • the infancy narratives
    • 12 year old in the Temple
    • baptism by John
    • temptation/testing by Satan

    Applying the earlier questions to these early chapters of Luke results in the following:

    WHO

    • king Herod of Judea
    • Zechariah (Temple priest) and his wife, Elizabeth
    • John the Baptist
    • Mary, a virgin from Nazareth in Galilee
    • Joseph, the man to whom she was engaged
    • Gabriel, an angel sent by God
    • Emperor Augustus
    • Quirinius, Roman governor of Syria
    • Shepherds and angels
    • Simeon
    • Anna
    • scribes and teachers in the Temple
    • Nazareth townsfolk

    WHAT

    • miraculous conceptions (John then Jesus)
    • prophetic oracles (Song of Zechariah, Song of Mary, Song of Simeon)
    • imperial policies and decrees
    • traditional piety
    • recognition by Jerusalem authorities
    • rejection by hometown mob

    WHERE

    • Temple (made famous by Roman victory in 70 CE)
    • synagogue (one in every major Roman city)
    • Bethlehem
    • Jerusalem
    • Nazareth

    WHEN

    • in the days of King Herod of Judea (37-4 BCE)
    • in reign of Emperor Augustis (27 BCE-14 CE)
    • when Quirinius Publius Sulpicius was governor of Syria (6-9 CE)

    WHY

    • divine providence at work
    • bringing blessings of peace and salvation to those favored by God
    • Jesus revealed as the one on whom God’s Spirit rests

    Assuming Luke-Acts is written some time during the 50 years after 70 CE, how would all these details of character, event, location and timing combine to communicate a particular interpretation of Jesus to Luke’s readers?

    • This Jesus is a Jew, but not a rebel.
    • His birth is marked by impressive signs and oracles.
    • He respects tradition and is no outlaw.
    • He is blessed with the divine Spirit but has no revolutionary intentions.
    • He brings the blessings of God to great and poor alike.
    • He offers hope without apocalyptic fantasy.
    • He generates joy rather than tribal hatreds.
    • He promotes social cohesion rather than chaos.
    • His own people mostly fail to see him for what he is.

    Whether or not this is an accurate description of Jesus between, say, 25 and 30 CE, it is the way that Luke represented Jesus to the Gentiles who were increasingly turning to Christianity in the decades after the devastating war between the Jews and Rome (66-73). This Jesus found a place in the imagination of the Roman world, and would eventually claim Caesar as his disciple as well.

    How do we represent Jesus to our world? Can the Jesus of hymnal and creed still capture the imagination of the 21C person? Do we need latter day Lukes to fashion fresh representations of Jesus for the third millennium? Will they be found inside the churches or only beyond their boundaries?

     

     

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

     

    Music Suggestions

    See David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.