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Tag: John the Baptist

  • Epiphany 2A (19 January 2014)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Isaiah 49:1-7 & Psalm 40:1-11
    • 1Corinthians 1:1-9
    • John 1:29-42

    The Epiphany Cycle

    Over the next few weeks we will complete a longer than usual Epiphany cycle due to the relatively late date for Easter this year. As usual, the readings will mostly come from Isaiah, 1 Corinthians and the gospel of the year (in this case, Matthew).

    During the course of Epiphany each year the lectionary invites us to reflect on a selection of Gospel “snapshots” of Jesus as the revelation of God.

    The Year A lectionary texts for Epiphany are as follows:

    • First Sunday after Epiphany (Baptism of Jesus): Matt 3:13-17
    • Second Sunday after Epiphany (John’s disciples find Jesus): John 1:29-42
    • Third Sunday after Epiphany (Jesus in Galilee): Matt 4:12-23
    • Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (The Beatitudes): Matt 5:1-12
    • Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (Light, Salt and Torah): Matt 5:13-20
    • Sixth Sunday after Epiphany (The New Torah): Matt 5:21-37
    • Seventh Sunday after Epiphany (Love of Enemies): Matt 5:38-48
    • Last Sunday after Epiphany (Transfiguration): Matt 17:1-9

    John’s disciples find Jesus

    The way that the GJohn introduces the disciples into the narrative is quite unlike the more familiar accounts in the Synoptic Gospels.

    Mark 1:16-20 sets the call in Galilee, and makes no mention of any previous affiliation of these persons with John the Baptist:

    As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea–for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

    Matthew simply makes minor adjustments to the details when taking over this tradition from Mark:

    As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea–for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. [Matt 4:18-22]

    While Luke tells the story very differently, it remains a lakeside encounter in the Galilee:

    Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. [Luke 5:1-11]

    Presumably GJohn has connected the first of Jesus’ disciples with John the Baptist because that reflected something of the spiritual history of those who shaped the Johannine community, or perhaps because John had been posthumously pressed into service as something of a symbol within their tradition. There is no reason to think that GJohn has any access to reliable historical information, since the portrait of JBap in GJohn is entirely subsumed to the figure of Christ.

    John the Baptist in the Gospel of John

    It is interesting to note the way that GJohn represents John the Baptist.

    Barnes Tatum [John the Baptist and Jesus. 1994:75-81] provides a helpful guide to the ten passages in GJohn that refer to John the Baptist.

    He begins, however, by noting that GJohn never uses “the Baptizer” when referring to John. Immediately that alerts us to a different view of John within the Johannine community.

    JBap appears twice in the poetic prologue to the Gospel:

    1. John 1:6-8

    There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
    He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
    He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

    2. John 1:15

    (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said,
    ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”)

    A further four references to JBap occur in the first chapter of GJohn:

    3. John 1:19-24

    This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said,
    “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
    “Make straight the way of the Lord,’”
    as the prophet Isaiah said.
    Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

    4. John 1:25-28

    They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

    5. John 1:29-34

    The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

    6. John 1:35-42

    The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

    The remaining references to JBap are as follows:

    7. John 3:22-30

    After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized — John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

    8. John 4:1-4

    Now when Jesus1 learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” — although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized — he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria.

    9. John 5:30-38

    “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

    10. John 10:40-42

    He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

    When considering GJohn’s treatment of JBap in the light of these ten passages, Tatum notes that GJohn (unlike the Synoptics) has chosen not to interpret JBap as the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1 –

    See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me,
    and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
    The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight —
    indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

    Barnes Tatum continues:

    Therefore, how has John presented JB? With singular focus, John presents JB as a witness testifying to Jesus’ identity as the One from God. Here JB appears quite differently than in Q. JB in Q asks whether or not Jesus is the coming one; and Jesus subsequently praises JB, but declares the least in God’s domain to be greater than he. JB in John has become the first Christian. Only on the basis of the portrayal of JB in John could the later church have made JB into a Christian saint, as the church did. (p. 79, emphasis original)

    Because of this deliberate focus on JBap as a witness to Jesus, all other aspects of the historical activity of JBap are omitted or left understated:

    • JBap does not proclaim a baptism of repentance and the significance of John’s baptism is left unexplained;
    • There is no mention of John’s ascetic lifestyle;
    • John’s arrest is mentioned in passing, but no details of his fate are provided

    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.

  • Third Sunday of Advent (15 December 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Isaiah 35:1-10 and Psalm 146:5-10 (or Luke 1:47-55)
    • James 5:7-10
    • Matthew 11:2-11

     

    John the Baptist in the Sayings Gospel Q

    This section in Matthews seems to combine two of the six texts from Q that deal with John the Baptist:

    • Luke 3:7-9 = Matt 3:7-10 A summary of John’s message
    • Luke 3:16-17 = Matt 3:11-12 John speaks of the Coming One
    • Luke 7:18-20 = Matt 11:2-6 Jesus identified as the Coming One
    • Luke 7:24-28 = Matt 11:7-11 Jesus praises John
    • Luke 7:31-35 = Matt 11:16-19 This generation condemned
    • Luke 16:16 = Matt 11:12-13 John and salvation history

    In Q John appears primarily as a prophetic preacher (Elijah returned at the end of time as foretold by the prophets) with almost no interest in John’s baptism ativities. There is no description of John baptizing Jesus, nothing said that locates him in the southern Jordan area and no direct description of his life as a desert hermit. At the same time, the Q tradition knows that John led an ascetic life (“eating no bread and drinking no wine”) and also that his ministry took place in the wilderness (“what did you go out to the wilderness to see”).

     

    The Messianic Signs

    The verbal agreement between Luke and Matthew is very close, although Luke elaborates the narrative framework a little more than Matthew does:

    Luke: The disciples of John reported all these things to him.
    Matt: When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing,

    Luke: So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask,
    Matt: he sent word by his disciples and said to him,

    Luke: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
    Matt: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

    Luke: When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask,
    Matt: —

    Luke: ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’”
    Matt: —

    Luke: Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind.
    Matt: —

    Luke: And he answered them,
    Matt: Jesus answered them,

    Luke: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
    Matt: “Go and tell John what you hear and see:

    Luke: the blind receive their sight,
    Matt: the blind receive their sight,

    Luke: the lame walk,
    Matt: the lame walk,

    Luke: the lepers are cleansed,
    Matt: the lepers are cleansed,

    Luke: the deaf hear,
    Matt: the deaf hear,

    Luke: the dead are raised,
    Matt: the dead are raised,

    Luke: the poor have good news brought to them.
    Matt: and the poor have good news brought to them.

    Luke: And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
    Matt: And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

    Of particular interest is a fragmentary text from Qumran (4Q521 Messianic Apocalypse) which provides a significant parallel to this description of the messianic blessings that attest to Jesus as the Coming One. For ease of reading it will be cited here as reconstructed by Florentino Martinez and Eibert Tigchelaar in The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1998):

    … for the heavens and the earth will listen to the anointed one, and all that is in them will not turn away from the precepts of the holy ones. Strengthen yourselves, you who are seeking the Lord, in his service! Will you not in this encounter the Lord, all those who hope in their heart? For the Lord will consider the pious, and call the righteous by name, and his spirit will hover upon the poor, and he will renew the faithful with his strength. For he will honour the pious upon the throne of an eternal kingdom, freeing prisoners, giving sight to the blind, straightening out the twisted. And forever shall I cling to those who hope, and in his mercy … and the fruits of … not be delayed. And the Lord will perform marvellous acts such as have not existed, just as he said, for he will heal the badly wounded and make the dead live, he will proclaim good news to the poor and he will lead the … and enrich the hungry… and all … [4Q521 fragment 2, column II]

    John P. Meier (A Marginal Jew, III,496f) comments on the significance of this passage:

    While the direct parallels between this text and Matt 11:5 par. lie in the four saving acts of healing the wounded, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and the proclaiming good news to the poor, the overall context and “feel” of the two passages are surprisingly similar. These acts that heal and comfort are the fulfillment of prophecy, especially as found in the Book of Isaiah; they occur in the eschatological and/or messianic period of salvation for Israel. In each text there is an astonishing order of climax. The various miraculous acts rise in a crescendo to the announcement of the resurrection of the dead. Yet trumping even that spectacular end-time feat is the still greater act of salvation: proclaiming good news to the poor. … At the very least, 4Q521 shows that the reply of Matt 11:5 is completely intelligible in the mouth of Jesus the Jew in 1st-century Palestine and need not be assigned to the creativity of the early church.

    Underlying these prophetic visions of a time of blessing is the following passage from Isaiah 61:1-4:

    The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me;
    he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
    to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and release to the prisoners;
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
    to provide for those who mourn in Zion–
    to give them a garland instead of ashes,
    the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
    They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
    They shall build up the ancient ruins,
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
    they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

    Blessed is the one who does not take offence

    This episode concludes with a beatitude: a typical from of address for Jesus. As with the more familiar beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6, this sayings assumes a problematic reality (poverty, hunger, grief or, in this case, disbelief) and then reverses that ambiguity so that the harsh reality becomes a point of blessing.

    While John (and all those Jews who shared his views in the first half of the 1C) might well take offence at a Messiah who neither raises an army against Rome nor calls down fire from heaven, those with eyes to see and ears to hear can discern in the transforming practice of the Kingdom communities gathered around the table of Jesus the fulfillment of the ancient hopes. Then as now the test of authentic religion is not whether our personal expectations are reinforced but whether the poor have good news preached to them.

     

     

    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

    • Come thou long expected Jesus – TiS 272
    • Funny kind of night – TiS 329
    • God has a table – TiS 544
    • The Servant King – TiS 256

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

  • Second Sunday of Advent (8 December 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Isaiah 11:1-10 and Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
    • Romans 15:4-13
    • Matthew 3:1-12

    John the Baptist

    On the Second Sunday of Advent the figure of John the Baptizer takes central stage.

    For further information about John elsewhere in these wiki pages, see:

    John in the Jesus Tradition

    The judgments of the Jesus Seminar on various aspects of the John the Baptist tradition may be of interest. For a complete discussion of the Seminar’s views on John the Baptist, see the special report by Barnes Tatum, John the Baptist and Jesus: A report of the Jesus Seminar.

    • JBap baptized with water
    • JBap preached
    • JBap’s characteristic activities took place in the wilderness
    • JBap preached baptism
    • JBap’s baptism was a form of Jewish immersion rite
    • JBap administered baptism himself
    • JBap’s baptism was done in flowing water
    • JBap’s baptism was understood to express repentance
    • JBap’s baptism was understood to mediate God’s forgiveness
    • JBap’s baptism was understood to be a protest against the temple establishment
    • JBap’s baptism was understood to purify from uncleanness
    • JBap’s baptism was understood as an initiation into a Jewish sectarian movement
    • JBap’s baptism was understood to foreshadow an expected figure’s baptism.
    • JBap taught repentance
    • JBap taught repentance apart from baptism
    • Mark 1:4 and Matt 3:2 summarize the message of JBap
    • JBap spoke the words in Mark 1:7, Luke 3:16b and Matt 3:11b
    • JBap spoke the words in Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16a,c and Matt 3:11a,c
    • JBap spoke the words in Luke 3:17 and Matt 3:12
    • JBap spoke the words in Luke 3:7-9 and Matt 3:7-10
    • JBap spoke the words in Luke 3:11
    • JBap spoke the words in Luke 3:13
    • JBap spoke the words in Luke 3:14
    • JBap spoke the words reported in John 1:15
    • JBap spoke the words reported in John 1:23
    • JBap spoke the words reported in John 1:29
    • JBap spoke the words reported in John 1:32-34
    • JBap spoke the words reported in John 3:27-30
    • JBap’s exhortations and activities had a widespread appeal.
    • In response, people repented
    • In response, people were baptized
    • JBap had disciples
    • Pharisees came to hear JBap
    • Sadducees came to hear JBap
    • Toll collectors came to hear JBap
    • Soldiers came to hear JBap
    • JBap was part of a broader baptizing phenomenon or movement
    • JBap was an Essene
    • JBap was a member (or former member) of the Qumran community
    • JBap was a former Essene
    • JBap was a lone Jewish sage or holy man (like Bannus)
    • JBap imitated Elijah
    • JBap acted as a prophet
    • JBap was an apocalyptic preacher
    • JBap was perceived as a hellenistic moralist
    • JBap’s locale overlaps that of Jesus
    • JBap’s time overlaps that of Jesus
    • Jesus began his public ministry at the time JBap was imprisoned

    John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew

    GMatthew comes from late in the 1C: typically dated somewhere in the 80s and seen as reflecting to some extent the tensions as the followers of Jesus diverged from the Torah-observant Jewish neighbors in the final quarter of the first century. Matthew used Mark as a primary source for his basic narrative, supplementing that storyline with the more extensive traditions of Jesus’ teaching in the Sayings Gospel Q. As there is no reason to think that Matthew used Luke or John, this gospel may preserve a distinctive view of Jewish Christianity and of John the Baptist.

    • Unlike Luke, Matthew makes no reference to John the Baptist or his parents (Zechariah and Elizabeth) in his infancy narrative.
    • Matthew, then, does not treat Jesus and John as cousins.
    • Matthew 3:1-12 introduces John at the commencement of Jesus’ public activity:

    Verses 1-6 reconfigure the material in Mark 1:2-6,14-15. In the process, Matthew corrects Mark’s mistaken attribution of Malachi 3:1 to Isaiah and omits the words not found in Isaiah. There appears to be no significant difference in their view of John.
    Verses 7-10 draw on the Q Gospel for a brief resume of John’s message, with very similar words being found in Luke 3:7-9. Matthew does not present the instructions to special interest groups (including tax-collectors and soldiers) that we find attributed to John in Luke 3:10-14.
    Verses 11-12 portray John as the precursor who was consciously preparing the crowds for the more powerful one coming after him. Matthew supplements the tradition from Mark with a Q saying about the winnowing fork that the Coming One will wield as he separates the wheat from the chaff.

    • Where Luke immediately follows this scene with an expurgated reference to John’s death at the orders of Herod Antipas, Matthew follows the example of Mark and deals with the death of John later in the narrative (Matt 14:3-12).
    • All three Synoptic Gospels then recount the story of Jesus’ baptism by John. Matthew’s significant variation to the Markan story is to add a discourse in which Jesus re-assures John that his baptism is approprirate despite his personal virtue:

    John would have prevented him, saying,
    “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
    But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so for now;
    for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
    Then he consented. [Matt 3:14-15]

    • The only other significant Matthean change is to clarify that “the Spirit” that descended like a dove was “the Spirit of God” (3:16).
    • John’s arrest is mentioned in Matt 4:12, closely following the information found in Mark 1:14.
    • The question about fasting (Matt 9:14-17) reflects an awareness that the practices of John’s disciples were similar to those of the Pharisees, while those of Jesus and his followers were distinctively less ascetical. Jesus’ reply implies that he is the bridegroom, while John was a figure of lesser significance.
    • John’s question to Jesus (Matt 11:2-6 = Luke 7:18-23) forms the first part of an extended discussion of the relative significance of these two figures. From his prison, John sends disciples to ask whether Jesus is “the one who is to come” or whether they should wait for another? In response Jesus cites his miracles of deliverance (for the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor) and pronounces a beatuitude on anyone who takes no offence at him.
    • Jesus’ words about John then follow immediately (Matt 11:7-19) just as they do in Luke 7. John’s special significance is developed using the symbol of Elijah, whose return was anticipated by some Jews as a precursor to the arrival of the Messiah. Unlike Matthew, Luke avoided identifying John with Elijah since he was going to apply the motif of Elijah’s ascent to heaven and the outpouring of his spirit on Elisha to empower Elisha for ministry to the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost.
    • Herod fears Jesus is John redivivus in Matt 14:1-2 (=Mark 6:14-16 = Luke 9:7-9), and this provides Matthew with the opportunity to recount the story of John’s execution. Matthew’s version is a simpler form of the more detailed story found in Mark 6:17-29. The only point where Matthew elaborates the version found in Mark is when he adds a setence about Herod’s high regard for John:

    Though Herod wanted to put him to death,
    he feared the crowd,
    because they regarded him as a prophet. [Matt 14:5]

    • Jesus learns of John’s death in a scene that is unique to Matthew:

    Then [the disciples of John] went and told Jesus.
    Now when Jesus heard this,
    he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. [Matt 14:12b-13a]

    • The confession at Caesrea Philippi (Matt 16:13-23 = Mark 8:27-33 = Luke 9:18-22) includes a mention of the belief that Jesus was in some sense a resurrected John the Baptist:

    [Jesus] asked his disciples,
    “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
    And they said, “Some say John the Baptist,
    but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” [Matt 16:13b-14]

    • The interpretation of John as Elijah (already mentioned above) is the main focus of Matt 17:9-13, which follows Mark 9:9-13 but which Luke was to entirely omit for reasons already cited:

    As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them,
    “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
    And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
    He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things;
    but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him,
    but they did to him whatever they pleased.
    So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”
    Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

    • John the Baptist makes a final appearance in Matthew when Jesus is questioned over the source of his authority:

    When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. [Matt 21:23-27 = Mark 11:27-33 = Luke 20:1-8]

    From this brief review of the way that John the Baptist functions in Matthew’s Gospel, we can see that Matthew follows Mark more closely than Luke was to do. In Matthew, John the Baptist is clearly a figure of lesser significance. While not the subject of his own birth narratives (as in Luke), John has considerable dignity as the Elijah figure who comes to prepare for the arrival of the Coming One. The underlying unity of the Baptist and Jesus communities is reflected in the frequent references to Jesus as a resurrected John, in the assumption that they shared similar prophetic status, and in the questions over their (surprisingly?) differing attitudes to fasting.

    Jesus Database

    • 051 Into the Desert – (1) GThom. 78; (2) 2Q: Luke 7:24-27 = Matt 11:7-10; (3) Mark 1: 2-3 = Matt 3:3 = Luke 3:4-6 =(?) John 1:19-23
    • 115 Johns Message – (1a) 2Q: Luke 3:15-18= Matt 3:11-12; (1b) Acts 13:24-25; (1c) John 1:24-31; (2) Mark 1:7-8
    • 137 Johns Warning – (1) 2Q: Luke 3:7-9a = Matt 3:7-10b
    • 213 John the Baptist – (1a) Mark 1:4-6 = Matt 3:1,4-6 = Luke 3:1-3; (1b) GEbi. 2-3a
    • 214 Kingdom and Repentance – (1a) Mark 1:14-15 = Matt 4:12,17 = Luke 4:14-15 =(?) John 4:1-3; (1b) Matt 3:2

    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.

  • Advent 2C (9 December 2012)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Baruch 5:1-9 (or Malachi 3:1-4) and Luke 1:68-79
    • Philippians 1:3-11
    • Luke 3:1-6

     

    First Reading: The Forerunner

    The book of Malachi (literally, “My messenger”) is the last of the prophetic texts that comprise the Scroll of the Twelve in the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish canon has three parts:

    • Torah (5 scrolls of Moses)
    • Prophets (4 x Former Prophets + 4 x Latter Prophets)
    • Writings (books of different genres that were sacred to Jewish communities around the turn of the eras)

    The Prophets included two very different series of books:

    • What we are more likely to think of as Historical Books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), following the classification of the ancient Greek versions of the Bible, are regarded as prophetic texts in the normative Jewish tradition. Seeing these texts as prophetic writings rather than as historical narratives can open up new ways of approaching these books. They are narratives with an agenda – a prophetic agenda – and do not claim to be critical histories in the modern sense of that term.
    • Matching those four books of the Former Prophets were four great scrolls of the Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and The Twelve. Each of these scrolls are really compilation albums, gathering up materials connected in some way or other with the legacy of the various named prophets. We note that the Jewish tradition does not distinguish between the “Major” and “Minor” prophets as if size matters. Rather, the majority of the shorter prophetic texts are gathered into a single large scroll to form a body of 12 prophetic witnesses. (The book of Daniel provides an interesting exception, since Jewish tradition does not treat as a prophetic text and assigns it to the Writings.)

    The Scroll of the Twelve comprised the following texts:

    • Hosea
    • Joel
    • Amos
    • Obadiah
    • Jonah
    • Micah
    • Nahum
    • Habakkuk
    • Zephaniah
    • Haggai
    • Zechariah
    • Malachi

    These are all relatively short texts when compared with the collections associated with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

    The twelfth book – Malachi – may have been created by separating a portion of text that originally formed part of Zechariah in order to create, albeit artificially – the symbolic number of twelve prophets. It condemns various signs of decadence among the clergy and the wider society of the prophet’s time (perhaps during the first half of the 5C BCE). As seems always to be the case in apocalyptic literature, the remedy was not seen in political or religious reform but in a dramatic divine intervention:

    See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (Mal 3:1-4 NRSV)

    In later Jewish tradition, the end-time prophetic sent as the harbinger of the divine Advent would develop as several biblical figures were combined in one form or another:

    • a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18)
    • Elijah returning from heaven (2 Kings 2 and Malachi 4)
    • the voice crying in the wilderness from Isaiah 40
    • the anonymous messenger of Malachi 3

     

    Second Reading: The day of Jesus Christ

    Philippians is one of the seven Pauline letters that are generally accepted as authentic, although even this brief letter may be a composite created from fragments of more than one letter. The passage set for this Sunday is presumably chosen because of its repeated reference to the day of Christ:

    I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (Phil 1:3-11 NRSV)

    Paul is working with similar categories to the unknown author of Malachi, but his perspective is quite different. He celebrates the faithfulness of his audience and anticipates their vindication on the day of visitation by the divine Lord.

    Gospel: John the Baptiser in Luke-Acts

    John the Baptiser

    In A Marginal Jew (vol. 2: “Mentor, Message and Miracles”), John Meier describes John the Baptist as one of two historical figures that stand at either end of Jesus’ life like bookends. The other is Pontius Pilate. We know of each figure from independent historical sources, although the popular image of both is shaped by Christian tradition that speaks of them only from the perspective of their relationship to Jesus.

    The NT Gospels provide three major blocks of material about John, the Jewish apocalyptic prophet who was a contemporary of Jesus and may also have been something of a mentor to him:

    • Infancy narratives (Luke 1-2)
    • John’s activity culminating in the baptism of Jesus (found in all 4 Gospels)
    • Questions posed by John about Jesus (Luke 7:18-35 || Matt 11:2-19, “Q”)

    John’s death is related in Mark 6:17-29 and more briefly in Matt 14:3-12. There are also a few other passages that mention John or his disciples, sometimes in dispute with Jesus and sometimes in favorable terms.

    The following passage in the first-century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, is especially valuable as all our other descriptions of John come from Christian sources and might be expected to promote Jesus while playing down the significance of John:

    [116] Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod’s suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God’s displeasure to him. Antiquities of the Jewish People, 18.116-19: Perseus Digital Library

    We see from Acts 19 that there were followers of John within Jewish circles late into the 1C (or even into the beginning of the 2C), and that they were something of a rival religious community to emerging Christianity.

    John the Baptist in Luke-Acts

    Luke presents John as filling a God-given role in preparing for the ministry of Jesus. He develops the infancy traditions of John and Jesus in parallel to one another:

    • Scene 1 – John’s miraculous conception (Luke 1:5-25)
    • Scene 2 – Jesus’ miraculous conception (Luke 1:26-38)
    • Scene 3 – Mary visits Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)
    • Scene 4 – John’s birth and naming (Luke 1:57-80)
    • Scene 5 – Jesus’ birth and naming (Luke 2:1-21)
    • Scene 6 – Presentation in Temple (Luke 2:22-40)
    • Scene 7 – 12-year old Jesus in Temple (Luke 2:41-52)

    As Luke continues his presentation of Christianity in the two volumes we know as Luke-Acts, he gives John the Baptist more attention than in any other NT writing:

    Luke 3:1-22 provides an extensive description of John prior to the baptism of Jesus (of which we read just the opening words this week).

    In 5:33-39 Luke uses the material from Mark about the divergence in religious practice between John’s disciples (“always fasting and offering prayers”) and Jesus’ disciples (“yours just eat and drink”). Instead of reading that simply as a question directed to Jesus by the crowds, perhaps it should be understood (as Luke’s readers most likely appreciated) as a reference to the sustained rivalry between John’s people and the Jesus people? Did John’s disciples observe more traditional Jewish practices, while the Jesus people gathered for Eucharists in which the fellowship of the kingdom was experienced (but which their critics derided as “just eat and drink”).

    Luke 7:18-35 directly addresses the relationship of John and Jesus. Luke asserts the primacy of Jesus, while affirming the importance of John. Yet Luke is also making the point that the least significant person in the Kingdom is greater than John. Once again the contrast between the asceticism of John’s followers and the exuberant celebrations of the Jesus people is clear.

    Luke 9:7-9,18-21 preserves a tradition that some thought Jesus to be John returned to life following his murder by Herod Antipas. When introducing the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1), Luke has the disciples request Jesus to teach them how to pray just like John had taught his disciples how to pray. This detail is only found in Luke. Matthew’s account simply has Jesus deciding to give some instruction on prayer (and the contrast is not with the prayer tradition of John’s people, but with those of the Gentiles). Once again we glimpse a profound tension between John’s followers and the Jesus movement.

    Luke 16:16 treats John as the final prophet, and the one whose ministry marks the transition from the time of Law and the Prophets. In contrast, Luke presents Jesus as the one ushering in the Kingdom era. Luke’s version of this tradition differs significantly from Matthew’s (Matt 11:1-15): Matthew dates the breaking in of God’s Kingdom “from the time of John the Baptist until now.” He also explicitly identifies John with the Elijah figure expected to appear at the end of time. Luke does not allow John to be the Elijah figure since he will keep that function for Jesus himself.

    In the Book of Acts the first of several references to John is found in Acts 1:4-5. Here (as if anticipating 19:1-7) Jesus contrasts John, who baptized with water, to the coming “baptism with the Holy Spirit.”

    Jesus’ baptism by John is mentioned as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in key speeches Luke creates for Peter and Paul in his narrative: Peter calling for a new apostle to replace Judas (1:21-22), Peter preaching to Cornelius (10:34-38), and Paul’s sermon to the Pisidian Jews (13:23-25).

    In Acts 11:15-17, Luke has Peter cite the difference between John’s water baptism and the Spirit baptism of early Christianity when defending his decision to baptize Cornelius and his household.

    The second-last reference to John the Baptist occurs in Acts 18:24-28. In this passage two of Paul’s associates put a fellow Christian missionary through a crash course in theology. Apollos “had been taught the way of the Lord and was on fire with the Spirit.” Better still, “he used to speak and teach about Jesus correctly.” However, Apollos had one shortcoming: “he knew only the baptism of John.”

    Finally we have Acts 19:1-7, where the disciples of John need to move beyond John’s “baptism of repentance” (presumably expressed in fasting and prayers?), to a more eucharistic faith that celebrates the gift of the Spirit at the shared table (“just eating and drinking” to their detractors?). In this unique passage, Luke portrays Paul coming across a small community that is centered around the teachings of John the Baptist. This is the only time that the NT admits such groups existed and were rivals to the Jesus communities within Judaism. This episode allows Luke to assert the primacy of the Jesus movement over John’s followers: John’s people (described as disciples) are quite unaware of the Holy Spirit until Paul lays hands on them. Like the conversion of the first Gentiles (Acts 10), there is miraculous confirmation of their inclusion in the kingdom as they speak in tongues and prophesy. Significantly, Luke tells us there were about 12 people involved: sufficient for a properly ordered apostolic community.

    Needless to say, we do not have any direct evidence of how John or his own disciples understood his place in the scheme of things.

     

    John’s Message in Luke 3

    Luke’s description of John’s message is outlined in Luke 3:1-20:

    [A] First of all, Luke carefully locates John by reference to several public figures that might be known to his audience:

    3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins …

    In contrast, notice how Mark and Matthew introduce John the Baptist, without even the infancy traditions that precede his public activity in Luke-Acts:

    Mark 1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

    =Matt 3:1: In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2″Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

    [B] Then Luke follows Mark and Matthew, by interpreting John through the lens of Isaiah 40 (and correcting Mark’s inaccurate inclusion of words from Malachi as well as Isaiah):

    as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
    “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
    “Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.
    Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
    and the crooked shall be made straight,
    and the rough ways made smooth;
    and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

    [C] At this point, Luke introduces material not found in his earlier sources, as he describes the message proclaimed by John and indicates how it was received by the people:

    7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
    10 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

    [D] In words reminiscent of his description in the Gospel of John (1:26-27 & 3:28-30), Luke portrays John as looking for someone greater to succeed him and act as God’s agent of judgment:

    15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

    [E] Finally, Luke notes that a corrupt Herodian prince had ordered John’s execution — an event he refrains from describing, unlike Mark (6:17-29) and Matthew (14:3-12a). He mentions this outcome twice (see also Luke 9:7-9) but seems to play it down. It was perhaps a fate that might have suggested to Luke’s readers that there was something of the rebel about both Jesus and his mentor, John. Luke seems to have been at some pains to represent both John and Jesus as model citizens with a pedigree that featured family connections in Jerusalem and its Temple.

    18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

     

    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.

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