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  • Fourth Sunday of Advent (22 December 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Isaiah 7:10-16 and Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
    • Romans 1:1-7
    • Matthew 1:18-25

     

    The Birth of the Messiah (Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth)

    Being Year A, the focus on this Sunday before Christmas falls on the account of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was most likely written between the mid-80s and early 90s of the first century. His account of Jesus’ birth reflects ancient interests in the special circumstances surrounding the birth of a hero. This account is distinctively different from that found in Luke, with the following major elements: family tree, unexpected conception, failed attempt to kill him, exile in Egypt, move to Nazareth.

    Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth can be outlined as follows:

    • 1:1–17 Jesus’ family tree
    • 1:18–25 Conception and birth
    • 2:1–12 Threat to the Christ child
    • 2:13–15 Escape
    • 2:16–18 Massacre of the Innocents
    • 2:19–23 Moving to Nazareth

    Matthew seems to have been influenced by Jewish traditions about the birth and childhood of Moses when writing his story about the birth of Jesus. These traditions are known as the Moses Haggadah (“Haggadah” is a Hebrew word for story.)

    The Biblical story of Moses’ birth celebrated the special significance of Moses but left many questions unanswered.

    1:8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.13 The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites,14 and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

    15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.”17 But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?”19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”20 So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”<BR<
    2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.3 When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

    5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” [Exodus 1:8-2:10]

     

    The birth of Moses in ancient Jewish tradition

    From Jewish writings of the Second temple period, we know that this biblical passage inspired further elaboration on the Moses story. While no single surviving text contains a complete Moses haggadah, we can trace the general outlines of this complex that seems to have shaped the way Matthew depicts the infancy of his own hero, Jesus the Messiah.

    Egyptian Horus legend

    Seth went searching for Horus, still a child, in his hiding place in Chemmis (the Nile Delta marshland), after his mother (Isis) had hidden him in a papyrus thicket. [The text goes on to say that the child was in a reed boat.]
    [Pap. Jumilhac, cited by Plaut, Torah, 392]

    An Akkadian legend of Sargon

    Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade, am I.
    My mother was a high priestess, my father I knew not.
    The brother of my father loved the hills.
    My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates.
    My priestly mother conceived me, in secret she bore me.
    She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid.
    She cast me into the river which rose not over me.
    The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water.
    Akki, the drawer of water, lifted me out as he dipped his ewer.
    Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me.
    [Pritchard, ANET, 119. cited by Plaut, Torah, 392]

    Greek legend of Telephus

    Telephus was born of a union between the god Heracles and Auge, daughter of King Aleus of Tegea. The enraged father put mother and son into a wooden chest and cast them into the sea. The chest floated to the land of King Teuthras who married Auge and raised Telephus as a prince.
    [Strabo. cited by Plaut, Torah, 392]

    Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities, 9

    /9:1/ And after Joseph’s passing away, the sons of Israel multiplied and increased greatly. And another king who did not know Joseph arose in Egypt, and he said to his people, “Behold that people has multiplied more than we have. Come, let us make a plan against them so they will not multiply more.” And the king of Egypt ordered all his people, saying, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews, throw into the river; but let their females live.” And the Egyptians answered their king, saying, “Let us kill their males, and we will keep their females so that we may give them to our slaves as wives. And whoever is born from them will be a slave and serve us.” And this is what seemed wicked before the LORD.

    /2/ Then the elders of the people gathered the people together in mourning, and they mourned and groaned saying, “The wombs of our wives have suffered miscarriage; our fruit is delivered to our enemies. And now we are lost, and let us set up rules for ourselves that a man should not approach his wife lest the fruit of their wombs be defiled and our offspring serve idols. For it is better to die without sons until we know what God may do.”

    /3/ And Amram answered and said, “It will sooner happen that this age will be ended forever or the world will sink into the immeasurable deep or the heart of the abyss will touch the stars than that the race of the sons of Israel will be ended. And there will be fulfilled the covenant that God established with Abraham when he said, ‘Indeed your sons will dwell in a land not their own and will be brought into bondage and afflicted 400 years.’ And behold from the time when the word of God that he spoke to Abraham was spoken, there are 350 years; from the time when we became slaves in Egypt, there are 130 years. /4/ Now therefore I will not abide by what you decree, but I will go in and take my wife and produce sons so that we may be made many on the earth. For God will not abide in his anger, not will he forget his people forever, nor will he cast forth the race of Israel in vain upon the earth; nor did he establish a covenant with our fathers in vain; and even when we did not yet exist, God spoke about these matters. /5/ Now therefore I will go and take my wife and I will not consent to the command of the king; and if it is right in your eyes, let us all act in this way. For when our wives conceive, they will not be recognized as pregnant until three months have passed, as also our mother Tamar did. For her intent was not fornication, but being unwilling to separate from the sons of Israel she reflected and said, ‘It is better for me to die for having intercourse with my father-in-law than to have intercourse with gentiles.’ And she hid the fruit of her womb until the third month. For then she was recognized. And on her way to be put to death, she made a declaration saying, ‘He who own this staff and this signet ring and the sheepskin, from him I have conceived.’ And her intent saved her from all danger. /6/ Now therefore let us also do the same. And when the time of giving birth has been completed, we will not cast forth the fruit of our womb (if we are able). And who knows if God will not be provoked on account of this so as to free us from our humiliation?”

    /7/ And the strategy that Amram thought out was pleasing before God. And God said, “Because Amram’s plan is pleasing to me, and he has not put aside the covenant established between me and his fathers, so behold now he who will be born from him will serve me forever, and I will do marvelous things in the house of Jacob through him and I will work through him signs and wonders for my people that I have not done for anyone else; and I will act gloriously among them and proclaim to them my ways. /8/ And I, God, will kindle for him my lamp that will abide in him, and I will show him my covenant that no one has seen. And I will reveal to him my Law and statutes and judgments, and I will burn an eternal light for him, because I thought of him in the days of old, saying, ‘My spirit will not be a mediator among these men forever, because they are flesh and their days will be 20 years.’”

    /9/ And Amram of the tribe of Levi went out and took a wife from his own tribe. When he had taken her, others followed him and took their own wives. And this man had one son and one daughter; their names were Aaron and Miriam. /10/ And the spirit of God came upon Miriam one night, and she saw a dream and told it to her parents in the morning, saying, “I have seen this night, and behold a man in a linen garment stood and said to me, ‘Go and say to your parents, “Behold he who will be born from you will be cast forth into the water; likewise through him the water will be dried up. And I will work signs through him and save my people, and he will exercise leadership always.”‘” And when Miriam told her dream, her parents did not believe her.

    /11/ The strategy of the king of Egypt, however, prevailed against the sons of Israel, and they were humiliated and worn down in making bricks. /12/ Now Jochebed conceived from Amram and hid him in her womb for three months. For she could not conceal him any longer, because the king of Egypt appointed local chiefs who, when the Hebrew women gave birth, would immediately throw their male children into the river. And she took her child and made for him an ark from the bark of a pine tree and placed the ark at the bank of the river. /13/ Now that child was born in the covenant of God and the covenant of the flesh. /14/ And when they had cast him forth, all the elders gathered and quarreled with Amram, saying, “Are not these our words that we spoke, ‘It is better for us to die without sons than that the fruit of our womb be cast into the waters’?” And Amram did not listen to those who were saying these words. /15/ Now Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, as she had seen in dreams, and her maids saw the ark. And she sent one, and she fetched it and opened it. And when she saw the boy, and while she was looking upon the covenant (that is, the covenant of the flesh), she said, “It is one of the Hebrew children.” /16/ And she took him and nursed him. And he became her own son, and she called him by the name Moses. But his mother called him Melchiel. And the child was nursed and became glorious above all other men, and through him God freed the sons of Israel as he had said.
    [D.J. Harrington, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2, 315f]

    Josephus

    1. NOW it happened that the Egyptians grew delicate and lazy, as to pains-taking, and gave themselves up to other pleasures, and in particular to the love of gain. They also became very ill-affected towards the Hebrews, as touched with envy at their prosperity; for when they saw how the nation of the Israelites flourished, and were become eminent already in plenty of wealth, which they had acquired by their virtue and natural love of labor, they thought their increase was to their own detriment. And having, in length of time, forgotten the benefits they had received from Joseph, particularly the crown being now come into another family, they became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating, upon its running over its own banks: they set them also to build pyramids, (17) and by all this wore them out; and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanical arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor. And four hundred years did they spend under these afflictions; for they strove one against the other which should get the mastery, the Egyptians desiring to destroy the Israelites by these labors, and the Israelites desiring to hold out to the end under them.

    2. While the affairs of the Hebrews were in this condition, there was this occasion offered itself to the Egyptians, which made them more solicitous for the extinction of our nation. One of those sacred scribes, (18) who are very sagacious in foretelling future events truly, told the king, that about this time there would a child be born to the Israelites, who, if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian dominion low, and would raise the Israelites; that he would excel all men in virtue, and obtain a glory that would be remembered through all ages. Which thing was so feared by the king, that, according to this man’s opinion, he commanded that they should cast every male child, which was born to the Israelites, into the river, and destroy it; that besides this, the Egyptian midwives (19) should watch the labors of the Hebrew women, and observe what is born, for those were the women who were enjoined to do the office of midwives to them; and by reason of their relation to the king, would not transgress his commands. He enjoined also, that if any parents should disobey him, and venture to save their male children alive, (20) they and their families should be destroyed. This was a severe affliction indeed to those that suffered it, not only as they were deprived of their sons, and while they were the parents themselves, they were obliged to be subservient to the destruction of their own children, but as it was to be supposed to tend to the extirpation of their nation, while upon the destruction of their children, and their own gradual dissolution, the calamity would become very hard and inconsolable to them. And this was the ill state they were in. But no one can be too hard for the purpose of God, though he contrive ten thousand subtle devices for that end; for this child, whom the sacred scribe foretold, was brought up and concealed from the observers appointed by the king; and he that foretold him did not mistake in the consequences of his preservation, which were brought to pass after the manner following:—

    3. A man whose name was Amram, one of the nobler sort of the Hebrews, was afraid for his whole nation, lest it should fail, by the want of young men to be brought up hereafter, and was very uneasy at it, his wife being then with child, and he knew not what to do. Hereupon he betook himself to prayer to God; and entreated him to have compassion on those men who had nowise transgressed the laws of his worship, and to afford them deliverance from the miseries they at that time endured, and to render abortive their enemies’ hopes of the destruction of their nation. Accordingly God had mercy on him, and was moved by his supplication. He stood by him in his sleep, and exhorted him not to despair of his future favors. He said further, that he did not forget their piety towards him, and would always reward them for it, as he had formerly granted his favor to their forefathers, and made them increase from a few to so great a multitude. He put him in mind, that when Abraham was come alone out of Mesopotamia into Canaan, he had been made happy, not only in other respects, but that when his wife was at first barren, she was afterwards by him enabled to conceive seed, and bare him sons. That he left to Ismael and to his posterity the country of Arabia; as also to his sons by Ketura, Troglodytis; and to Isaac, Canaan. That by my assistance, said he, he did great exploits in war, which, unless you be yourselves impious, you must still remember. As for Jacob, he became well known to strangers also, by the greatness of that prosperity in which he lived, and left to his sons, who came into Egypt with no more than seventy souls, while you are now become above six hundred thousand. Know therefore that I shall provide for you all in common what is for your good, and particularly for thyself what shall make thee famous; for that child, out of dread of whose nativity the Egyptians have doomed the Israelite children to destruction, shall be this child of thine, and shall be concealed from those who watch to destroy him: and when he is brought up in a surprising way, he shall deliver the Hebrew nation from the distress they are under from the Egyptians. His memory shall be famous while the world lasts; and this not only among the Hebrews, but foreigners also: — all which shall be the effect of my favor to thee, and to thy posterity. He shall also have such a brother, that he shall himself obtain my priesthood, and his posterity shall have it after him to the end of the world.

    4. When the vision had informed him of these things, Amram awaked and told it to Jochebed who was his wife. And now the fear increased upon them on account of the prediction in Amram’s dream; for they were under concern, not only for the child, but on account of the great happiness that was to come to him also. However, the mother’s labor was such as afforded a confirmation to what was foretold by God; for it was not known to those that watched her, by the easiness of her pains, and because the throes of her delivery did not fall upon her with violence. And now they nourished the child at home privately for three months; but after that time Amram, fearing he should be discovered, and, by falling under the king’s displeasure, both he and his child should perish, and so he should make the promise of God of none effect, he determined rather to trust the safety and care of the child to God, than to depend on his own concealment of him, which he looked upon as a thing uncertain, and whereby both the child, so privately to be nourished, and himself should be in imminent danger; but he believed that God would some way for certain procure the safety of the child, in order to secure the truth of his own predictions. When they had thus determined, they made an ark of bulrushes, after the manner of a cradle, and of a bigness sufficient for an infant to be laid in, without being too straitened: they then daubed it over with slime, which would naturally keep out the water from entering between the bulrushes, and put the infant into it, and setting it afloat upon the river, they left its preservation to God; so the river received the child, and carried him along. But Miriam, the child’s sister, passed along upon the bank over against him, as her mother had bid her, to see whither the ark would be carried, where God demonstrated that human wisdom was nothing, but that the Supreme Being is able to do whatsoever he pleases: that those who, in order to their own security, condemn others to destruction, and use great endeavors about it, fail of their purpose; but that others are in a surprising manner preserved, and obtain a prosperous condition almost from the very midst of their calamities; those, I mean, whose dangers arise by the appointment of God. And, indeed, such a providence was exercised in the case of this child, as showed the power of God.

    5. Thermuthis was the king’s daughter. She was now diverting herself by the banks of the river; and seeing a cradle borne along by the current, she sent some that could swim, and bid them bring the cradle to her. When those that were sent on this errand came to her with the cradle, and she saw the little child, she was greatly in love with it, on account of its largeness and beauty; for God had taken such great care in the formation of Moses, that he caused him to be thought worthy of bringing up, and providing for, by all those that had taken the most fatal resolutions, on account of the dread of his nativity, for the destruction of the rest of the Hebrew nation. Thermuthis bid them bring her a woman that might afford her breast to the child; yet would not the child admit of her breast, but turned away from it, and did the like to many other women. Now Miriam was by when this happened, not to appear to be there on purpose, but only as staying to see the child; and she said, “It is in vain that thou, O queen, callest for these women for the nourishing of the child, who are no way of kin to it; but still, if thou wilt order one of the Hebrew women to be brought, perhaps it may admit the breast of one of its own nation.” Now since she seemed to speak well, Thermuthis bid her procure such a one, and to bring one of those Hebrew women that gave suck. So when she had such authority given her, she came back and brought the mother, who was known to nobody there. And now the child gladly admitted the breast, and seemed to stick close to it; and so it was, that, at the queen’s desire, the nursing of the child was entirely intrusted to the mother.

    6. Hereupon it was that Thermuthis imposed this name Mouses upon him, from what had happened when he was put into the river; for the Egyptians call water by the name of Mo, and such as are saved out of it, by the name of Uses: so by putting these two words together, they imposed this name upon him. And he was, by the confession of all, according to God’s prediction, as well for his greatness of mind as for his contempt of difficulties, the best of all the Hebrews, for Abraham was his ancestor of the seventh generation. For Moses was the son of Amram, who was the son of Caath, whose father Levi was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham. Now Moses’s understanding became superior to his age, nay, far beyond that standard; and when he was taught, he discovered greater quickness of apprehension than was usual at his age, and his actions at that time promised greater, when he should come to the age of a man. God did also give him that tallness, when he was but three years old, as was wonderful. And as for his beauty, there was nobody so unpolite as, when they saw Moses, they were not greatly surprised at the beauty of his countenance; nay, it happened frequently, that those that met him as he was carried along the road, were obliged to turn again upon seeing the child; that they left what they were about, and stood still a great while to look on him; for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators, and made them stay longer to look upon him.

    7. Thermuthis therefore perceiving him to be so remarkable a child, adopted him for her son, having no child of her own. And when one time had carried Moses to her father, she showed him to him, and said she thought to make him her successor, if it should please God she should have no legitimate child of her own; and to him, “I have brought up a child who is of a divine form, (21) and of a generous mind; and as I have received him from the bounty of the river, in , I thought proper to adopt him my son, and the heir of thy kingdom.” And she had said this, she put the infant into her father’s hands: so he took him, and hugged him to his breast; and on his daughter’s account, in a pleasant way, put his diadem upon his head; but Moses threw it down to the ground, and, in a puerile mood, he wreathed it round, and trod upon his feet, which seemed to bring along with evil presage concerning the kingdom of Egypt. But when the sacred scribe saw this, (he was the person who foretold that his nativity would the dominion of that kingdom low,) he made a violent attempt to kill him; and crying out in a frightful manner, he said, “This, O king! this child is he of whom God foretold, that if we kill him we shall be in no danger; he himself affords an attestation to the prediction of the same thing, by his trampling upon thy government, and treading upon thy diadem. Take him, therefore, out of the way, and deliver the Egyptians from the fear they are in about him; and deprive the Hebrews of the hope they have of being encouraged by him.” But Thermuthis prevented him, and snatched the child away. And the king was not hasty to slay him, God himself, whose providence protected Moses, inclining the king to spare him. He was, therefore, educated with great care. So the Hebrews depended on him, and were of good hopes great things would be done by him; but the Egyptians were suspicious of what would follow such his education. Yet because, if Moses had been slain, there was no one, either akin or adopted, that had any oracle on his side for pretending to the crown of Egypt, and likely to be of greater advantage to them, they abstained from killing him.
    [Antiquities of the Jews II.9]

    Book of Memory

    In the 130th year after Israel went down to Egypt, Pharaoh dreamed that he was sitting on the throne of his kingdom. He looked up and saw an old man standing before him holding a balance like those used by merchants. The old man took hold of the scales and held them up before Pharaoh Then he took all the elders of Egypt, her princes and her nobles and put them on one scale of the balance. After that he took a tender lamb and put it on the second scale. The lamb outweighed them all. Then Pharaoh wondered at this amazing sight, how the lamb outweighed them all. Pharaoh woke up and realized it was only a dream. Next morning, Pharaoh got up, summoned all his courtiers, and narrated his dream. They were all extremely frightened. Then one of the royal princes answered, “This can only mean that a great disaster will come on Egypt at the end of days.” “And what is that?” the king asked the eunuch. So the eunuch replied to the king, “A child will be born in Israel who will destroy the whole land of Egypt. If it pleases the king, let a royal statute be written here and distributed throughout the land of Egypt to kill every newborn male of the Hebrews so that the disaster will be averted from the land of Egypt.” The king did so and sent for the midwives of the Hebrews …

    When the Israelites heard Pharaoh’s decree that their male children be thrown into the river, some of the men divorced their wives but the rest stayed married to them …

    There was a man of the tribe of Levi in the land of Egypt whose name was Amram, son of Qahat, son of Levi, son of Jacob. This man married Jochebed, a daughter of Levi and his own aunt, and the woman conceived and gave birth to a daughter and called her Miriam …

    One day the Spirit of God descended on Miriam and she prophesied in the center of the house saying, “Behold, a son will be born to my father and mother at this time who will save Israel from the power of Egypt.” When Amram heard the words of the child he remarried his wife who he had divorced after the decree of Pharaoh ordering the destruction of every male of the house of Jacob. He slept with her and she conceived by him. Six months later she gave birth to a son and the house was filled with brightness like that of the sun and moon at their rising.
    [Miller, Born Divine, 131f (after Crossan, “From Moses to Jesus”)]

     

    Good News for Outsiders in Matthew’s infancy narrative

    While Matthew’s infancy narrative is deeply influenced by the Jewish traditions about Moses, he has given his story a definite twist in favour of inclusion of those who would otherwise have been excluded from the community.

    The Magi

    The most obvious expression of this can be seen in the visit of the Magi. These pagan astrologers do not belong in such a tale, but their presence highlights the differing responses to Christ by the Jewish authorities (represented here by Herod) and the gentiles. Biblical themes of gentiles coming from the ends of the earth in the messianic times are echoed here as well. The arrival of these “seekers” from the end of the earth forms something of an inclusion with the final instruction from the Risen Lord in Matt 28:16-20 (“Go, and make disciples of all nations …”).

    Tainted Women

    Another clue to Matthew’s grasp of the radical inclusion of all people in the blessings brought by Jesus comes in the genealogy in Matt 1:1-17. Four women are included in the list of Jesus’ ancestors, and five in we count Mary:

    • Tamar
    • Rahab
    • Ruth
    • the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba)
    • Mary

    If we look for something that these women have in common, including Mary the mother of Jesus, then it seems that Matthew is offering a subtle defence to allegations that Jesus’ conception involved some extramarital scandal.

    However, if Mary is excluded from consideration, the most significant characteristic that the remaining four women share (and which does not apply to Mary) is their non-Jewish ethnicity. Is it possible that Matthew is underlining his theme of inclusion for the Gentiles by mentioning these four foreigners who were either ancestors (or the wife) of King David, and ancestors of Jesus himself?

     

    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

    • Hail to the Lord’s anointed – TiS 275
    • The angel Gabriel from heaven came – TiS 302
    • Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us – TiS 526
    • When God almighty came to be one of us – TiS 281

    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.

  • First Sunday of Advent (1 December 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Isaiah 2:1-5 & Psalm 122
    • Romans 13:11-14
    • Matthew 24:36-44

    Beginning the Year of Matthew

    This Sunday marks the transition to Year A of the three year cycle of readings, with Matthew taking the lead role in our liturgical listening to the voice of Jesus as mediated through the Gospels.

    This may be an opportune time to note the major variations in the way Matthew tells the Jesus story, relative to Mark and Luke.

    Matthew is a significantly longer than Mark, and roughly the same length as Luke and John. It is therefore of interest to see how Matthew used the additional space available for his account, as well as noting how the choices made by Matthew differed from those made by Luke and John.

    See the Synoptic Gospels Primer site developed by Mahlon Smith for detailed discussion of some information presented here.

    Separate
    Matt
    Mark
    Luke
    verses
    1068
    661
    1098
    scenes
    117
    95
    120
    sayings
    225
    80
    182

    According to Mahlon Smith, 35 of these scenes and 38 of the sayings are unique to Matthew; while 77 of the sayings are found only in Matthew and Luke (mostly representing the lost Sayings Gospel Q). The core of the Synoptic tradition, of course, is to be observed in the basic narrative structure that they have in common.

    Common Synoptic Outline

    The outline common to all 3 synoptics is:

    • John the Baptist’s appearance & message
    • Jesus baptized
    • Jesus tested
    • Jesus preaches in Galilee
    • Cures & exorcisms
    • Social controversies (meals & sabbath observance)
    • Interpretation of parables
    • 5000 fed
    • Peter identifies Jesus as Messiah
    • Jesus’ death & disciples’ persecution predicted
    • Jesus transformed
    • Exorcism
    • 2nd prediction of Jesus’ fate
    • Jesus goes to Judea
    • Jesus summons children
    • Call to abandon possessions & follow Jesus
    • 3rd prediction of Jesus’ fate.
    • Blind cured
    • Jesus enters Jerusalem
    • Temple purged
    • Jesus questioned by Jerusalem authorities
    • Destruction of temple predicted
    • Judas Iscariot cooperates with temple authorities
    • Jesus celebrates Passover meal
    • Jesus arrested at Gethsemane
    • Trial by Sanhedrin
    • Peter denies Jesus
    • Trial by Pontius Pilate
    • Crucifixion
    • Burial by Joseph of Arimathea
    • Women discover empty tomb (told to report to disciples).

    Materials unique to Matthew

    With such a strong common story line, the points where Matthew differs from Mark and/or Luke become especially significant for gaining an insight into that gospel’s interpretation of Jesus and, by implication, its understanding of Christianity.

    The materials unique to Matthew include the following. (The divisions follow Throckmorton, Gospel Parallels. Material in common with Luke is in plain font, while material without parallels in Luke is in bold.)

    • Infancy Narrative (no parallel in Mark and a different tradition in Luke)

    1:1-17 Genealogy of Jesus
    1:18-25 Birth of Jesus
    2:1-12 Visit of the Wise Men
    2:13-23 Flight into Egypt + Killing of the Babies + Return from Egypt

    • The Sermon on the Mount (mostly paralleled in Luke but rarely in Mark)

    5:1-2 Introduction
    5:3-13 Beatitudes
    5:13-16 Parables of Salt and Light
    5:17-20 Jesus and the Law
    5:21-26 On Anger
    5:27-30 On Adultery
    5:31-32 On Divorce
    5:33-37 On Swearing
    5:38-42 On Retaliation
    5:43-48 On Love of Enemies
    6:1-4 On Almsgiving
    6:5-8 On Prayer
    6:9-15 Lord’s Prayer
    6:13-18 On Fasting
    6:19-21 On Treasures
    6:22-23 The Sound Eye
    6:24 Serving Two Masters
    6:25-34 On Anxiety
    7:1-5 On Judging
    7:6 On Profaning the Holy
    7:7-11 On Answers to Prayer
    7:12 The Golden Rule
    7:13-14 The Narrow Gate
    7:15-20 The Test of a Good Person
    7:21-23 On Self-Deception
    7:24-27 Hearers and Doers of the Word
    7:28-29 Conclusion to the Sermon

    • Controversies and Miracles (many with parallels in Luke)

    8:5-13 The Centurion’s Servant
    10:40-11:1 John’s Questions to Jesus
    11:20-24 Woes to Unrepentant Cities
    11:25-27 Jesus’ Thanksgiving to the Father
    11:28-30 Comfort for the Weary
    12:43-45 Return of the Unclean Spirit
    13:16-17 Blessedness of the Disciples
    13:24-30 Parable of the Weeds
    13:33 Parable of the Yeast
    13:36-43 Interpretation of Parable of Weeds
    13:44-46 Parables of Hidden Treasure and Priceless Pearl
    13:47-50 Parable of the Net
    13:51-52 Treasures New and Old
    17:24-27 Temple Tax
    18:10-14 Parable of the Lost Sheep
    18:15-20 On Reproving Another Believer
    18:21-22 On Forgiveness
    18:23-25 Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
    20:1-16 Parable of Laborers in Vineyard
    21:28-32 Parable of the Two Sons
    22:1-14 Parable of the Wedding Banquet
    23:1-36 Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees
    23:37-39 Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
    24:26-28 The Day of the Son of Man
    24:37-41 Sudden Appearing of the Son of Man
    24:42-44 The Watchful House Owner
    24:45-51 The Faithful and Wise Slave
    25:31-36 The Last Judgment

    • Passion Narrative

    27:3-10 The Death of Judas
    27:52-53 Dead Patriarchs Raised from their Tombs
    27:62-66 The Guard at the Tomb
    28:11-15 The Bribing of the Soldiers
    28:16-20 The Commissioning of the Disciples

    This list does not account for the many points where Matthew edits the tradition copied from Mark, nor does it pick up the way that Matthew likes to provide a biblical citation for key events or themes. However, it may serve as a useful way to orient ourselves to Matthew’s distinctive interests as we begin Year A. We shall then have many opportunities to note how these tendencies work out in specific passages.

    Despite its interest in the implications of Jesus for the practice of Jewish life, Matthew has a special interest in the place of the Gentiles. Foreigners come from afar to welcome the newborn Jesus, and his final words are to commission his followers to make disciples of all nations. The inclusive and liberating activity of Jesus is overshadowed by violence from birth to death, just as Matthew’s readers were themselves living under the shadow of an aggressive empire and alongside Torah-observant Jews who regarded the Jesus people with suspicion.

    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

    • Hark the glad sound – TiS 269
    • God has spoken through his prophets – TiS 158
    • Mine eyes have seen – TiS 315
    • God gives us a future – TiS 687

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

  • Last Sunday after Pentecost (Reign of Christ) (24 November 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Jeremiah 23:1-6 & Luke 1:68-79
    • Colossians 1:11-20
    • Luke 23:33-43

    Jesus Crucified

    There were almost 100 Seminar ballots on issues relating to the crucifixion tradition, including the historicity of the Passion Narrative and many of its component elements. For complete voting details see “The Jesus Seminar Voting Records: Passion Narrative” Forum (new series) 1.1 (Spring 1998) 227-233.

    Some of the key elements were assessed as follows:

    • Jesus was crucified
    • Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate
    • Jesus was crucified with the participation of the highest Jewish authorities
    • Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem
    • Jesus was crucified in some conjunction with Passover
    • Jesus was crucified at Golgotha

    The Seminar’s views on some of the elements found in this week’s Gospel were:

    • There was an inscription attached to the cross with the words, “King of the Jews.”
    • The two thieves came originally from Ps 21:17 (LXX) supported by Isa 53:12.
    • Casting lots for clothes is based on Ps 22:18.
    • Gall and vinegar to drink derives from Ps 69:21.
    • The episode in Luke 23:39-43 in which one of the criminals crucified beside Jesus believes in him is a report of an actual historical event.

    Mark 15:22-38 = Matt 27:33-51a = Luke 23:32-46

    The close literary relationship between the three synoptic Gospels can be seen in a horizontal line synopsis. It is clear that Luke has essentially followed Mark, except for his creative elaboration of the scene with the two thieves.

    There are three distinctive sayings attributed to Jesus in Luke’s version of the passion legend, and they were most likely not in the pre-Luke tradition:

    • The prayer for his tormentors to be forgiven as they did not know what they were doing is not found in some important MSS. It may have been added by a later scribe impressed with the similarities to Stephen’s death in Acts 7. The effect is to enhance the portrayal of Jesus as a Greek hero who goes to his death with courage and grace.
    • The promise of immediate participation in paradise for the penitent thief is found only in Luke.
    • Jesus’ prayerful commendation of his spirit to God’s care closely parallels the words of Stephen in Acts 7:59. Both Jesus and Stephen die as innocent heroes, and with their faith in God undiminished.

    On the festival of Christ the King, this passage highlights the character of Christ as a crucified king; and one meeting the needs of those around him even in his final moments. However, the promise of immediate participation in paradise is a strange promise to find on the lips of Jesus. The word “paradise” [Greek: paradeisos] occurs nowhere else in the Gospel tradition, and was originally a loan word adopted from Persian. It is found in just two other places in the NT:

    • 2 Cor 12:4 where Paul speaks obliquely of his own mystical experiences:

    It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows–was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.

    • RevJn 2:7 where those who are faithful are promised a share of the tree of life in the paradise of God:

    Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
    To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.

    Luke’s account of the death of the noble King

    Luke’s description of Jesus as the quintessential Greek hero contrasts with the way Jesus is portrayed in the other Passion accounts. We catch a glimpse of these differences if we focus just on the final words of Jesus in each Gospel:

    Mark 15
    Matthew 27
    John 19
    Luke 23
    34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 26–27 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
        28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
    37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 44–47 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, … Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

    While Matthew has stuck quite close to the account created by Mark, John and Luke each take considerable liberties as they develop the story’s potential as a classic scene in the final moment’s of their hero’s life:

    The Johannine Jesus has no sense of desolation, but rather sets about making the arrangements for his mother’s care. Knowing that Scripture must be fulfilled, John’s Jesus feigns thirst in order to prompt the mere mortals in the script to offer him a drink. Finally, in John 19 Jesus expires with a victory shout.

    Luke’s Jesus is even more the classical Greek hero. Jesus seeks divine forgiveness for those acting as executioners. He converts one of his fellow victims and offers him a place in heaven that very day. In stark contrast with the Jesus who feels himself abandoned by God, this Jesus deliberately commends his spirit into the Father’s hands and then breathes his last.

    Clearly we are not dealing with historical recollection, but with literary artistry.

    Jesus Database

    • 005 Crucifixion of Jesus – (1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) GPet. 4:10-5:16,18-20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22-38 = Matt 27:33-51a = Luke 23:32-46; (2c) John 19:17b-25a,28-36; (3) Barn. 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem. 16:3-4 (=Isaiah 53:1-12); (4b) 1 Clem. 16.15-16 (=Psalm 22:6-8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b; (5c) Ign. Smyrn. 1.2

    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.

  • Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost (10 November 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Haggai 1:15b-2:9 & Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 (or Psalm 98)
    • 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
    • Luke 20:27-38

    Introduction: The Sadducees

    This story raises a number of interesting questions, as it is one of very NT passages that even mention the Sadducees. In its present location in the story of Jesus’ final days, the story functions as an illustration of the rising tension between Jesus and the Jerusalem authorities.

    If it could be established that it preserves some memory of Jesus’ own teachings on the resurrection, this story would be, as John P. Meier says, “a unique and precious relic that allows us to appreciate more fully Jesus’ own views on what the future coming of the kingdom would mean” (A Marginal Jew, III:443). Few scholars are willing to go that far, but the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar were so divided over the authenticity of this story that the outcome was a compromise Gray vote.

    In the notes this week we focus on the protagonists of Jesus in this story: the Sadducees.

    The NT and the Sadducees

    When the three variants of this single story are excluded (Mark 12:18-27 = Matthew 22:23-33 = Luke 20:27-40), we find very few references to the Sadducees:

    Matthew adds them to the Pharisees as stock elements in his description of John the Baptist (Matt 3:7 – “But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming …”) and again in chapter 16 where they appear as little more than decoration to the story:

    • Matthew 16:1 – The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they …
    • Matthew 16:6 – … of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
    • Matthew 16:11 – Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!
    • Matthew 16:12 – … and Sadducees.

    Mark only mentions the Sadducees in this story of the dispute about the resurrection, and makes no connection between these influential members of the Jerusalem hierarchy and the arrest, trial and death of Jesus.
    John does not mention the Sadducees at all.
    Luke has no other reference to the Sadducees in his Gospel, but in the Acts of the Apostles does refer to them as one element among the Jerusalem authorities:

    • Acts 4:1 – the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, …
    • Acts 5:17 – him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with …
    • Acts 23:6 – When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were …
    • Acts 23:7 – … and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
    • Acts 23:8 – (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, …

    None of the NT epistles mention the Sadducees, not even Paul who might be expected to have known several personally and who Acts describes as having been commissioned by the (Sadducee) High Priest to harrass the early Christians.

    Flavius Josephus

    Josephus describes the Sadducees in his writings that are more or less contemporary with Matthew:

    Life

    And when I was about sixteen years old, I had a mind to make trim of the several sects that were among us. These sects are three: — The first is that of the Pharisees, the second that Sadducees, and the third that of the Essenes, as we have frequently told you; for I thought that by this means I might choose the best, if I were once acquainted with them all; so I contented myself with hard fare, and underwent great difficulties, and went through them all. Nor did I content myself with these trials only; but when I was informed that one, whose name was Banus, lived in the desert, and used no other clothing than grew upon trees, and had no other food than what grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently, both by night and by day, in order to preserve his chastity, I imitated him in those things, and continued with him three years. (3) So when I had accomplished my desires, I returned back to the city, being now nineteen years old, and began to conduct myself according to the rules of the sect of the Pharisees, which is of kin to the sect of the Stoics, as the Greeks call them. (Life 2)

    Wars of the Jews

    2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. (Wars of the Jews II.8.2)

    But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men’s own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews. (Wars of the Jews II.8.14)

    Antiquities of the Jews

    9. At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Essenes. Now for the Pharisees, (11) they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essenes affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly. However, I have given a more exact account of these opinions in the second book of the Jewish War. (Antiquities of the Jews XIII.15.9)

    6. Now there was one Jonathan, a very great friend of Hyrcanus’s, but of the sect of the Sadducees, whose notions are quite contrary to those of the Pharisees. He told Hyrcanus that Eleazar had cast such a reproach upon him, according to the common sentiments of all the Pharisees, and that this would be made manifest if he would but ask them the question, What punishment they thought this man deserved? for that he might depend upon it, that the reproach was not laid on him with their approbation, if they were for punishing him as his crime deserved. So the Pharisees made answer, that he deserved stripes and bonds, but that it did not seem right to punish reproaches with death. And indeed the Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not apt to be severe in punishments. At this gentle sentence, Hyrcanus was very angry, and thought that this man reproached him by their approbation. It was this Jonathan who chiefly irritated him, and influenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on the people, and to punish those that observed them. From this source arose that hatred which he and his sons met with from the multitude: but of these matters we shall speak hereafter. What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers. And concerning these things it is that great disputes and differences have arisen among them, while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side. But about these two sects, and that of the Essenes, I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish affairs. (Antiquities of the Jews XIII.10.6)

    4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. (Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.1.4)

    1. AND now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, (23) who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a sanhedrim without his consent. (24) Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest. (Antiquities of the Jews XX.9.1)

    The Historian and the Sadducees

    Like the quest for the historical Jesus, the historian’s quest to recover what the 1C Sadducees may actually have been like is complex. Our sources are limited and mostly composed by groups that were hostile to the Sadducees — the NT Gospels, Josephus and the early rabbinic texts.

    John P. Meier devotes 22 pages of his third volume (Companions and Competitors) to a review of the Sadducees. He concludes with this cautious statement:

    Are we to imagine that for some 200 years, the Sadducees as a group engaged in mass hypocrisy, focusing their religious concerns on a temple whose prayers and sacrifices, conducted often by Sadducean priests, contradicted what the Sadducees really believed and openly professed as their teaching?

    While such a damning portrait … is not unheard of in modern scholarship (they are often made the convenient “bad guys” or “heavies” of ancient Jewish history), it hardly seems supported by the evidence. I think it more reasonable to suppose that just as Josephus exaggerated a major tendency of Essene theology, turning the Essenes into fatalists for the sake of his neat pattern of Jewish philosophical schools, so too he exaggerated a major tendency of the pragmatic Sadducees, whose obligation to run the temple and govern Judean Jews during direct Roman rule naturally made them concentrate on human initiative, actions, and obligations …

    This, I think, is all we can say about the Sadducees. Even more than in the case of the Pharisees, our discussion of the Sadducees has had to reply on indirect arguments, reading between the lines, and hypotheses — only to produce a very fragmentary picture. We must resign ourselves to the fact that, short of the discovery of new documents from the ancient Mediterranean world, the Sadducees will remain for us very shadowy figures. (p. 410f)

    Jesus and the afterlife

    For a more detailed discussion of this week’s Gospel, and also the wider traditions about Jesus and afterlife, see Gregory C. Jenks, “Jesus and the afterlife: Glimpses of Jewish traditions in the teachings of Jesus.” in Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife; Eternity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ed. J. Harold Ellens. 3 Vols. Vol 1, 147-168. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2013.
    The items from the Jesus Database that are especially relevant to this topic are listed below.

    Crossan’s data begins with the item number followed by a numerical symbol. A plus (+) or minus (-) sign indicates his judgment on whether the complex derives from the historical Jesus or from the later Jesus tradition. As Crossan himself notes, “the plus sign does not, of course, refer to all sources and units in a given complex but means that, despite any later changes and developments, the core of the complex derives from Jesus himself.” One complex—130 Dead Man Raised—is marked with ± to indicate that it “represents a dramatic historicization of something which took place over a much longer period” rather than a single event.

    Items listed by literary type

    Parables

    Aphorisms

    Chreiai

    • Man with Money – 253 The Rich Man: (1a) Mark 10:17–22 = Matt 19:16–22= Luke 18:18–23, (1b) GNaz.16a.
    • Hundredfold Reward – 200 Hundredfold Reward: (1) Mark 10:28–30 = Matt 19:27, 29 = Luke 18:28–30, (2) ApJas 4:1a.
    • On the Resurrection – 262 On the Resurrection: (1) Mark 12:18–27 = Matt 22:23–33 = Luke 20:27–40.
    • Patriarchs and Gentiles – 166 Patriarchs and Gentiles: (1) 2Q: Luke 13:28–29 = Matt 8:11–12.
    • Rich Man and Lazarus – 471 Rich Man and Lazarus: (1) Luke 16:19–31.
    • Penitent Thief – 005 Crucifixion of Jesus: (1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) GPet 4:10–5:16,18–20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22–38 = Matt 27:33–51a = Luke 23:32–46; (2c) John 19:17b–25a, 28–36; (3) Barn 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem 16:3–4 (=Isa 53:1–12); (4b) 1 Clem 16:15–16 (=Psalm 22:6–8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b; (5c) Ign. Smyrn. 1:2.
    • Eat and Drink Anew – 016 Supper and Eucharist: (1a) 1 Cor 10:14–22; (1b) 1 Cor 11:23–25; (2) Mark 14:22–25 = Matt 26:26–29 = Luke 22:15–19a [19b–20]; (3) Did 9:1–4; (4) John 6:51b–58.

    Discourses

    Raising the Dead

    Items listed by attestation and date

    Stratum One (30-60 CE)

    • Penitent Thief – 005 Crucifixion of Jesus: (1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) GPet 4:10–5:16,18–20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22–38 = Matt 27:33–51a = Luke 23:32–46; (2c) John 19:17b–25a, 28–36; (3) Barn 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem 16:3–4 (=Isa 53:1–12); (4b) 1 Clem 16:15–16 (=Psalm 22:6–8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b; (5c) Ign. Smyrn. 1:2.
    • When and Where – 008 When and Where: (1a) Thom 3:1 & P. Oxy654 3:1; (1b) Thom 51; (1c) Thom 113; (2) 2Q: Luke 17:23 = Matt 24:26; (3) Mark 13:21–23 = Matt 24:23–25; (4?) DialSav 16; (5) 1Q?: Luke 17:20–21.
    • Eat and Drink Anew – 016 Supper and Eucharist: (1a) 1 Cor 10:14–22; (1b) 1 Cor 11:23–25; (2) Mark 14:22–25 = Matt 26:26–29 = Luke 22:15–19a [19b–20]; (3) Did 9:1–4; (4) John 6:51b–58.
    • The Fishnet – 071 The Fishnet: (1) Thom 8:1; (2) Matt 13:47–48.
    • The Rich Farmer – 094 The Rich Farmer: (1) Thom 63:1; (2) 1Q?: Luke 12:16–21.
    • Treasure in Heaven – 099 Treasure in Heaven: (1) Thom 76:2; (2) 1Q: Luke 12:33 = Matt 6:19–20.
    • Lazarus – 130 Dead Man Raised: (1) John 11:1–57; (2a) Secret Mark 1v20–2r11a; (2b) Mark 14:51–52.
    • Whom to Fear – 158 Whom to Fear: (1a) 1Q: Luke 12:4–5 = Matt 10:28, (1b) 2 Clem 5:4b.
    • Patriarchs and Gentiles – 166 Patriarchs and Gentiles: (1) 2Q: Luke 13:28–29 = Matt 8:11–12.

    Stratum Two (60–80 CE)

    Stratum Three (80–120 CE)

    Stratum Four (120–150 CE)

    (No items relating to heaven, hell, or the afterlife are from the final stratum.)

    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

    • All People that on Earth do Dwell – TiS 59
    • Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord – TiS 390
    • Halle halle – TiS 720
    • Amazing Grace – TiS 129
    • Where the wide sky rolls down – TiS 188

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