John Shearman's Lectionary

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 7, 2010

ISAIAH 6:1-13. Here we have another classic example of a prophet called to a special ministry. As the smoke of the morning sacrifice wafted through the temple, Isaiah had a vision and heard an angelic voice praising the holiness of God. He then realized his own and his fellow Israelites’ unworthiness before God. One of the angelic beings touched his lips with a live coal, thus cleansing him to speak. Isaiah heard the voice of God calling for a messenger and he responded. But the message God gave him to deliver was one of unmitigated judgment.

PSALM 138. Unlike most of the psalms, this hymn of thanksgiving by an individual is thought to be from a small “Davidic collection.” (Psalms 138-145.) This meant that it was ascribed to King David rather than being composed by him. It expresses gratitude for God’s blessing as well as trust in God’s love and purpose.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11. In this passage beginning his great confession of the resurrection, Paul states as simply as possible what he had learned from the apostles. He had met some of them – notably Peter (Cephas) and James – in Jerusalem when he returned there some time after his conversion. First, he concentrated on the facts he had been told. Could this summary have been what the apostles in the earliest Christian community were teaching in the first years after the resurrection? Then he too makes his claim as “the least of the apostles” and reiterates his dependence on God’s grace for that.

LUKE 5:1-11. Behind the gospels as we now have them, there was a long tradition of stories about Jesus’ teaching and miracles repeated by word of mouth before being put into written form. Toward the end of the 1st century CE Luke gave a much more elaborate story than either Mark or Matthew. He connects this story of a miraculous catch of fish with the calling of the first disciples. John tells it as one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances (John 21). Taken together, the tradition represents a promise of the ultimate success of the apostolic mission.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

ISAIAH 6:1-13. Here we have another classic example of a prophet called to a special ministry. My OT professor, the late Rev. Dr. R.B.Y Scott, made this passage the starting point for his lectures on prophecy. He had written a highly regarded book, The Relevance of the Prophets, and at the time he was lecturing to us at McGill in 1948, he was writing the introduction and exegesis of Isaiah 1-39 for The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 5. His analysis of this passage in this latter volume is a valuable contribution to the understanding of prophetic visions and oracles.

The ancient temple in Jerusalem faced east. The daily sacrifice was offered as the sun rose over the horizon formed by the Mount of Olives. Rays from the rising sun flooded into the temple through its great doors causing its burnished gold and copper accouterments to shine gloriously. As the smoke of the morning sacrifice wafted through the temple, Isaiah, saw a vision and heard angelic voices praising the holiness of God.

Isaiah was possibly a cousin and certainly a courtier of King Uzziah, who had just died. Uzziah’s reign was one of the longest of the kings of Judah, 783-742 BCE. In his last years he suffered from leprosy and was replaced by his son Jotham as regent. This was also the time when Assyrian power was on the rise throughout ancient Mesopotamia and the wider Middle East. Uzziah’s reign included an expansion into both Philistine territory to the west that controlled trade routes to Egypt and Edom, to the south where there were valuable trade routes to Arabia. As the prophecies of Amos and Micah also reveal, this was a very prosperous period in the nation’s history.

In this passage Isaiah was in mourning and went into the temple, as was his wont, to offer a lament. As he worshiped in the familiar surroundings, he sensed the divine presence in a dramatic new way. God, of course, is invisible; yet Isaiah did have such a vision. Or was it just the hem of God’s robe and the attending seraphim, which represented the divine presence to him? Quickly afterward, Isaiah recognized his own unworthiness before God and that of his fellow Judeans. The experience overwhelmed him. That he should become the prophet to proclaim God’s judgment on his nation’s moral and spiritual decay was furthest from his imagination. Great revelations come to faithful men and women in the midst of the mundane experiences of life.

In Isaiah’s vision, one of the angelic beings touched his lips with a live coal from the altar, thus cleansing him to speak for God. He heard the voice of God calling for a messenger and he responded, “Here am I, send me.” But the message God gave him to deliver was one of unmitigated judgment. It must have been a fear-filled experience. To be called to speak God’s judgment against his own people would have frightened the most courageous of men or women in that day of woeful events as is in ours. One only has to hear or see to the attack ads created for contemporary political campaigns to realize how much the prophet exposes him or herself to community ridicule.

Yet there are men and women willing to present the divine alternatives to our petty human machinations of history. The people are the ground-breakers for new advances in faith and witness to the purposes of God in the world. It was so for Isaiah, who with Amos and Micah in the late 8th century BCE set forth a vision of divine justice and righteousness which remains as convincing for us as it was for them. These elements of Israelite prophecy had close affinity to the actual events of that time when the great empires of Assyria and Egypt were in conflict. Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judea itself was constantly threatened with invasion and the imposition of foreign religious practices.

PSALM 138. Unlike most of the psalms, this hymn of thanksgiving by an individual is thought to be from a small “Davidic collection.” (Psalms 138-145.) This meant that it was ascribed to King David rather than being composed by him.

There are some twenty such hymns of thanksgiving by individuals preserved in the religious literature of Israel. Isaiah 38:10-20 and Jonah 2:2-9 are examples found in the OT. The apocryphal books of Ecclessiasticus (Sirach), the Psalms of Solomon and the Odes of Solomon contain others.

Like most others, this psalm is from a post-exilic date. The absence of any thanksgiving sacrifice points to an unusual level of spiritual development rarely found except in some of the prophetic literature which condemned the temple sacrifices. Or it may date from a time before the reconstruction of the temple when the normal sacrifices could not be celebrated. It also reflects a universalism echoing that of Second Isaiah (vss. 4-6) for earthly kings are said to worship God as do the humble; and God does not despise their praise. The psalm ends with an declaration of trust in God’s love and purpose. Vs. 8 certainly provides a very preachable text.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11. Paul states as simply as possible what he had learned from the apostles whom he met in Jerusalem when he returned there some time after his conversion. This probably occurred less than a decade after the resurrection. Some scholars believe it may have been no more than a year or two. Could this have been an early Christian creed? It summarizes what the apostles were teaching in those first years after that momentous event when the apostolic church was feeling the full flush of its new faith.

One point stands out in Paul’s repetition of this statement of faith. To him, the resurrection was something experienced by those few who had seen and spoken with the risen Christ. It was also Paul’s firm conviction that the same risen Lord had appeared to him on the Damascus Road. The ambiguity between faith and fact remains with the Christian community to this day. Faith does not attempt to be factual. Rather it expresses a spiritual interpretation of deep and often inexplicable psychic experiences. It uses the language of image, symbol and metaphor to describe what persons of faith have experienced amid the ebb and flow of ordinary events which a reporter or historian might well record differently as observed facts or strange myths.

The resurrection experience symbolized for Paul and the other apostles that Jesus Christ, who had been executed as a criminal, was very much alive. Death had not conquered him; he had conquered death and was now with them in spirit. There were still many living in Paul’s time who could testify to this experience. The reference to the risen Christ’s appearance to five hundred people may be an alternate reminiscence of Pentecost as that event had been told to Paul by the apostolic community.

Quite possibly Paul was the first to connect the death of Christ to the ancient Israelite tradition that sin could be forgiven by the shedding of blood. This belief had its roots in the ancient practices of offering sacrifices to the deity common to all ancient religious traditions. In some traditions human sacrifice had also been quite commonly practiced. Even in Israel as late as the 7th century BCE reign of Manasseh (ca. 687-642 BCE) there had been evidence of this. Among the Jews, animal sacrifice in lieu of human sacrifice was related closely to the celebration of the both Passover and Yom Kippur. In this context Paul interpreted the crucifixion of Jesus as a self-offering which had a similar effect of dealing with the human problem of sin and alienation from God.

Note too that Paul adds himself as “the least of the apostles.” One view of the narrative in Acts presents Paul and Peter as rivals for leadership of the Gentile mission. In Galatians and here, Paul gives some basis for this hypothesis. He numbers himself among the apostles, though with self-deprecating diminution. He goes on to reiterate his total dependence on God’s grace for his status and gives his fellow apostles credit where credit is due. They all share the resurrection faith which is the heart of the gospel for us as well.

LUKE 5:1-11. (Author’s note: This passage is also covered in a new blog posted here: http://studiesinluke.blogspot.com. Look on the list to the left for #7 – Calling The First Disciples. The content of this blog introduced a Bible study with a group of seniors at Glen Abbey United Church, Oakville,ON, Canada.)

Luke tells this story of a miraculous catch of fish in connection with the calling of the first disciples. His version is much more elaborate than the brief accounts of Mark and Matthew. John tells it as one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances (John 21). Behind the gospels as we now have them, there was a long tradition of stories about Jesus’ teaching and miracles repeated by word of mouth before being put into written form. Assuming that all versions referred to the same event, which some commentators doubt, they speak to the future mission of the apostolic church. It appears to be a promise of ultimate success though not without long and difficult toil on the part of the disciple community.

At first, the ekklesia (i.e. the apostolic church) meant simply a group of Jews of humble origins, many of them unlettered and poverty stricken, who had responded to the preaching of Jesus and believed in his resurrection. Then as now, fishing was not always a lucrative occupation, but one which required much skill and patience, hard work and long hours. These men were partners in a small business in which they had invested their whole lives. Catching and marketing of fresh fish, a major food in Galilee at the time, was not always a profitable trade. In that climate, the fish would have to be caught during the night and sold in the marketplace within a few hours. Often the results were disappointing. However, this story is told for its metaphorical significance rather than as a factual vignette of the harsh life of the Galilean fisherman.

Luke has a way of weaving the whole tradition into his story as he tells it. His audience was two generations removed from the events he narrates and unfamiliar with the places in which those events occurred. So he did not have to be concerned about chronological order. His intent was primarily evangelical. For instance, he has Peter call Jesus first “Master,” then “Lord.” Those are titles which Luke reserves for disciples. Non-disciples used the term, “Teacher.” The title “Lord” appears in Luke twenty-one times; twelve of them in pericopes peculiar to Luke. It can be argued that here Luke was thinking in post-resurrection terms when the apostles had fully realized that Jesus was the Messiah for whom such a title was appropriate. As has been pointed out many times, the original creed of the apostolic church was the simple statement, “Jesus is Lord.”

So also Peter’s confession of sinfulness in his plea that Jesus depart from him is appropriate to a post-resurrection attitude. It reiterates the gospel call to repentance as the antecedent to Christian discipleship. Luke had emphasized this as the message John the Baptist had preached (3:1-20) and which Peter had also proclaimed in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:38. It may also have some reference to Peter’s denial of Jesus in the court of the house of Caiaphas (22:54-60).

The late Professor G. B. Caird pointed to Jesus’ choice of these “hard-working but intensely loyal men, ever aware of their own shortcomings, as those whom he needed to carry the gospel into the world.” Does not the present evangelistic environment call for a disciple community of similarly dedicated, loyal and hard-working persons? Certainly not those who may lay claim to moral perfection or spiritual greatness would not fit the requirements. Caird’s analysis of this passage is a valuable contribution to the understanding of how prophetic visions and oracles affect us: “On Simon at least the impact he made was a profoundly moral one, resulting in a sense of sin. It was not the miracle that brought him to his knees but the grandeur of sheer goodness.” (Caird, G.B. Saint Luke. The Pelican New Testament Commentary, 1965.)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
First Sunday After Epiphany
The Baptism of Jesus

January 10, 2010

 ISAIAH 43:1-7. The passage is the concluding part of a longer poem beginning in 42:5. The unknown prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile authored this poetic promise of the return of the exiles to their homeland. Like all prophets, he speaks for God, assuring those dwelling in foreign lands that, in spite of their great difficulties, they would be brought home. The basis for this beautifully expressed faith is God’s ancient covenant with Israel as God’s chosen people.

PSALM 29. This psalm begins with evidence of God’s omnipotence in a thunderstorm, which it describes very vividly. It goes on to point out that the God who can work such wonders can guarantee the people of God strength and peace, for the God of the nature is also the God of history.

ACTS 8:14-17. The Philip of the passage immediately preceding this story (8:4-12) is not one of the apostles, but a deacon and evangelist. He was one of several Greek-speaking Christians appointed to help the apostles. (Acts 6:1-6) He had been forced to flee from Jerusalem after the death of his fellow evangelist, Stephen. This brief note points to a subtle development in the early church’s understanding of baptism and the special role of the apostles. For some reason, baptism by Philip “in the name of Jesus” had not been sufficient to bring upon some new converts the blessing of the Spirit.

LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22. Luke gives a much briefer account of Jesus’ baptism than the other gospels. It seems little more than an ending to his narrative about the ministry of John the Baptist. The essential details are the same, however. Luke records the actual baptism, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, and the divine blessing.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

(NOTE: Understood from the Christian point of view, the theme of all these lessons for the First Sunday after Epiphany can be interpreted as the activities of God who is Spirit as the Creator and Redeemer of Israel, God’s people, and who has come again to recreate the world in Jesus Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit in ordinary men and women.)

ISAIAH 43:1-7. This passage forms the concluding part of a longer poem beginning in 42:5. The unknown prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile, called Deutero – or Second Isaiah, authored this poetic promise of the return of the exiles to their homeland in Judea. Like all prophets, he spoke for Yahweh, assuring those dwelling in foreign lands that, despite of their great difficulties, they would be brought home. The basis for this beautifully expressed faith was Yahweh’s ancient covenant with Israel as Yahweh’s chosen people. No other theme so dominated the Hebrew understanding of the countless events of their long experience as a much oppressed people.

This part of the poem emphasized the intervention of Yahweh so that Israel could fulfill its divinely ordained redemptive purpose. Revelation, creation and redemption formed the triple intent of Yahweh’s activity in Israel’s history, the one closely following on the other. Redemption was costly, however. Vs. 4 expressed the true measure of Israel’s value. Other nations and peoples would be given in return for Israel, i.e. Yahweh’s people would be ransomed.

The element of ransom had always been present in the Hebrew concept of redemption. In vss. 3-4, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba were the price paid for Israel’s freedom. This may well reflect the volatile period during which many Jews did return from exile in Babylon. The dominant Babylonian empire had fallen to Cyrus, king of Persia, in 539 BCE. After the death of Cyrus (c. 530 BCE) his son and successor, Cambyses, invaded Egypt, never to return home. It is now believed that skeleton’s of his army, 30,000 strong, have been re-discovered recently in a sand-swept wasteland in western Egypt where they perished in a sandstorm.

Rival usurpers vied for control of the empire until Darius emerged triumphant is 522 BCE. During this period, the returning Jews lived a very perilous existence as they struggled to reclaim independence and rebuild their temple under the governor, Zerubbabel, a sion of the house of David. The prophet may well have expected such turbulent times as inevitable or the passage may have been adapted after the fact to include these references.

The repeated imperative, “Do not fear,” (vss. 1 & 5) provided encouragement for Israel. In both instances, a reassuring proclamation followed the command. In vss. 1-2, Yahweh claimed Israel as a sacred possession and promised to accompany them through deep waters and consuming fires. These images may be reminiscent of dangers encountered in the Exodus although the long journey from Babylon to Judea did involved crossing great rivers, passing through burning-hot desert, and possibly also settled areas where they would have to fight their way onward. In vss. 5-7, Yahweh promised to be present with them as the exiles made their way home to Judea.

The 18th century hymn, “How firm a foundation,” drew extensively on these same images. The unknown author of that hymn, however, made reference to the grace of God in Jesus Christ as the source of reassurance rather the covenant of Yahweh with Israel as this prophecy had done.

PSALM 29. This psalm begins with evidence of God’s omnipotence in a thunderstorm, which it describes very vividly. Before that, however, there is a description of angelic beings in a heavenly temple robed as ministering priests in a sacred procession summoned to praise Yahweh (vss 1-2). Then the psalmist hears the voice of Yahweh as the roll of approaching thunder.

Such thunderstorms are not common in Palestine. During the autumn and spring, cold fronts do sweep in from the northwest to break over the mountains of Lebanon and bring much needed rain to the whole of Israel, especially Galilee and the coastal plain. With no knowledge of modern meteorology, the psalmist could only see the storm’s effects as lightning flashed and thunder crashed overhead. His vivid description in vss. 5-9 conveys an unsurpassed realism for anyone who has ever been out in a violent storm such as this.

Vs. 10 refers to the traditional cosmology of the Bible where rain came from the heavenly ocean or flood above the clouds (cf. Gen. 7:11; Ps. 104:3). Yahweh’s throne was situated above the ocean from which Yahweh could command the loosing or restraining of its waters.

This vision of Yahweh in command of a mighty storm reminds the psalmist that the One who can work such natural wonders can guarantee Israel strength and peace, for the Yahweh who controls nature is also the One who controls history.

ACTS 8:14-17. The Philip of the passage immediately preceding this story is not one of the apostles, but a deacon and evangelist with particular gifts. He was one of several Greek-speaking Christians appointed to help the apostles. (Acts 6:1-6) He had been forced to flee from Jerusalem after the death of his fellow deacon, Stephen. Like Stephen, he appears to have preached and baptized first in Samaria with some startling results. Despite having received the apostolic laying on of hands, the apostolic community in Jerusalem do not seem to have been so sure of his effectiveness. So they sent Peter and John to investigate and improve upon the baptism Philip had offered those who believed.

There is much that is troubling about this pericope. Why was Philip’s ministry insufficient? Was Philip regarded as little more than a magician, by both the Samaritans and the apostles? Did his miracles (vss. 6-7) attract so much attention that the gospel message did not get through to the Samaritans? Did the conversion of Simon the magician detract too much from Philip’s preaching? If Philip, Stephen and the other deacons had been chosen because they were “full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” how could the Spirit be under the control of the apostles alone? Were these questions about what we call “apostolic succession?”

Does this not reflect an ecclesiology of a later period when apostolic confirmation had become the prerogative of the episcopacy? Some scholars argue that Acts – or portions of it – date from the early 2nd century and that this passage may be one of those excerpts. This reading, along with 9:32-11:18 and 12:1-23, presents Peter as having the same kind of mission to the Gentiles as did Paul. Does this point to a certain rivalry within the community for which Acts was written or redacted from earlier documents?

This brief note points to a subtle development in the early church’s understanding of baptism and the special role of the apostles. In many respects the lectionary misleads the reader from the intent of the whole narrative of Philip’s ministry and the apostle’s confrontation with Simon (8:4-25). “Simony” was known to have been a problem within the church at certain times. Isn’t it still?

The action by the apostles extends the practice of baptism to include the laying on of hands. It may be that this was a unique development by the apostolic church. After all, John the Baptist had practiced baptism for the repentant as had Judaism for proselytes converted from other traditions. But these were acts of moral purification. The unique aspect of Christian baptism was that by this sacramental act the gift of the Holy Spirit came upon the believers; they were en-Christ-ed, i.e. christened. On the other hand, Paul makes no mention at all of the laying on of hands as part of baptism. The practice may well be a later development, although laying on of hands was common in OT blessings and certain sacrificial rites. It was also used for healing in many gospel pericopes.

However, several OT references do relate purification by water to the gift of a new spirit (e.g. Ezek. 36:25-26; Ps. 51). It was not any power inherent in the water, but the action of God’s Spirit which initiated new life. Baptism not only symbolized a new way of life, but admission to a new community, as it did in the Essenes who probably composed the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Acts, the apostolic church acknowledged that by baptism God added new members to its fellowship. But on some occasions the gift of the Spirit preceded the act of baptism (e.g. Acts 2:4, 41; 10:44-48). The only satisfactory conclusion is that the apostolic church learned through practice what baptism is and what it meant. 1 Peter 3:18-22 appears to present a summary of what baptism ultimately came to mean to the early church and how this related to history, worship and mission of Israel.

LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22. Luke gives a much briefer account of Jesus’ baptism than the other gospels. It seems little more than an ending to his narrative about the ministry of John the Baptist. The essential details are the same, however, if perfunctory. Luke records the actual baptism, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, and the divine blessing. There are, however, some significant aspects to this brief narrative.

As noted previously, baptism was common in the Jewish tradition; but not for all people. Ritual bathing had great symbolic meaning for priests, Levites and Pharisees. Considering the shortage of water in Palestine, ritual bathing by the common people must have been regarded as a significantly holy act. However, this was not regarded in the same light as proselytes receiving baptism marking the cleansing of their pagan ways and acceptance into the covenant community. John did preach repentance of sins and baptized those who responded, thereby acknowledging their sinfulness and being immersed in water as a sign of their cleansing. Did Jesus also feel the need to be cleansed, he whom the whole NT testifies as having no sin or ever being alienated from God?

Another possibility exists: Jesus had reached the point in his own spiritual growth where he was acutely aware of his filial relationship to God and of his divinely appointed mission. Consequently, he felt the need to identify himself with all the people whom he intended to bring into a similar intimate fellowship with God. His messianic role had become that of a mediator. Luke captured these filial and mediatorial elements of Jesus’ baptism in the tightly worded sentences of vss. 21-22. Behind this profound experience lay long years of personal development, of growing insight into the scriptures of his Jewish tradition and their application to his own life (cf. Luke 2:41-52).

The moment had come for him commit himself, to move out into a wider community than his carpenter shop in the small village of Nazareth. Henceforth he would make known to whomsoever would listen what was involved in a life lived totally within the reign of God’s love. He would live in such a way that people would see that Israel’s messianic promise could only be fulfilled in such a totally committed life. Jesus’ baptizing kinsman provided the opportunity for taking action to fulfill this commitment. The vision of the dove symbolized the gift of the Holy Spirit, something he alone experienced in Luke’s account.

Did Luke describe it this way to identify Jesus’ absolute divinity in a manner corresponding to the narrative of his conception? The words from heaven gave final, divine approval to the course he had chosen as a human. Was he also aware at this time what the cost would be? Had he yet come to grips with the implications of being the Servant of Yahweh in the mold of Isaiah 53?