John Shearman's Lectionary

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURES
Sixth Sunday of Lent – March 28, 2010
Liturgy of the Palms and Liturgy of the Passion.

Author’s Note: The Revised Common Lectionary includes the first two lessons of the celebration focusing on the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. If preferred, the celebration may be centred on the Passion of Christ using the second set of lessons. After each set of lessons, some “Preaching Points” have been added to assist in getting some thoughts for sermons started.  My son,  Rev. David Shearman, of Central-Westside United Church, in Owen Sound, Ontario, has joined me in contributing to these suggestions.

PSALM 118:1-2, 19-29. This psalm attributed some unidentified victory to Yahweh rather than to Israel’s military prowess. The use of the first person singular probably indicates that the person concerned may have been a king or high priest as representative of the whole nation. At some later date,   along with Pss. 113-117, it was adapted for liturgical use as one of  “The Hallel Psalms” sung at one of the great festivals.

LUKE 19:28-40. According to Luke, following Mark’s earlier Gospel, Jesus had planned his entry into Jerusalem by warning the owner of the colt that he would need the beast for this occasion. That the colt had never been ridden emphasized the aura of the incident Jesus’ intended to create. The donkey was regarded as a peaceful beast willingly serving its master, thus creating an image of a servant rather than a conquering king. Matthew elaborated the story to include two animals as in a messianic prophecy from Zechariah 9:9-10. Jesus himself took no part in the celebration. Instead, he rebuked  the Pharisees who complained about the crowd of disciples displaying their joyous expectations.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

LITURGY OF THE PALMS.

PSALM 118:1-2, 19-29. This psalm may have been sung originally as an individual  hymn of thanksgiving, but quickly became a congregational hymn used to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the six psalms of the Hallel (Pss. 113-118), pilgrims sang it as they approached the temple on this and other high holidays. It is yet another of the Psalms given a messianic interpretation by the Apostolic Church. Several NT passages alluded to it.

The person who originally sang this hymn (the “I” of the text) may have been the king or high priest, but it soon was reinterpreted as the personification of the nation and sung antiphonally with several parties singing allotted parts.

The “gates of righteousness” (vs. 19) referred to the massive gates at the entrance of the temple precincts representing the holy presence of Yahweh at the centre of the nation. The words would have been sung by the priest at the head of the procession of pilgrims.

Although its use in Christian scriptures invariably refers to Jesus, “the stone which the builders rejected …” (vs. 22) may have come from an old Hebrew proverb. It may have referred to a stone that was too large to be used anywhere but as a cornerstone anchoring a whole wall of a building. Today, most public buildings like churches have a ceremonial “cornerstone” marking the date it dedication and naming the architect who designed it. The psalmist used it to point out that Israel, though despised by the Gentile world, had become an honourable and beloved people in Yahweh’s sight.

The day of rejoicing in vs. 24 is the day of the festival, but is not specifically identified. This may well be the Feast of Tabernacles, for in vs. 27 the festal procession to decorate “the horns of the altar” probably best fits with that festival. The horns were protrusions at each corner of the altar possibly created for just such a decorative purpose or on which the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled (cf. Lev. 4:7).

Vss. 28 and 29 given what appears to be a double ending to the psalm. More likely, vs. 28 is the original ending for the individual hymn of thanksgiving, while vs. 29 is the  ending to the congregation hymn. Alternatively, the first is sung by the celebrant priest while the second is the antiphony sung by the congregation.

LUKE 19:28-40. Those who have visited Jerusalem may have walked the same path that Jesus took from Bethany and Bethphage on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives over the ridge and down the western slope toward the city gates. It is no more than two miles (three kilometres), if that. Presumably the village Jesus indicated was Bethany where he later seems to have made his headquarters during  his Passion  Week.

According to Luke, following Mark’s earlier Gospel, Jesus had planned his entry into Jerusalem by warning the owner of the colt that he would need the beast for this occasion. Was it at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany, that he had arranged for the colt? That the colt had never been ridden emphasized the aura of the incident Jesus’ intended to create by acting out the Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah 9:9-10. The donkey was regarded as a peaceful beast willingly serving its master, thus creating an image of a servant rather than a conquering king. Matthew elaborated the story to include two animals as in the prophecy. By choosing the lowly beast of burden Jesus sought to allay the nationalistic feelings the prophecy engendered.

The disciples began the celebratory procession by throwing their cloaks on the colt and setting Jesus upon it. Quickly joining the celebration, people began strewing their cloaks on the path as he rode along. Note that Luke makes no mention of branches being strewn in the way, neither from palm or any other trees as in Mark and Matthew. Palm branches were used in traditional Jewish celebrations of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15.) but not Passover.  The palm was an almost universally sacred symbol throughout the ancient Near East. In pre-Christian times it was a symbol of victory and was used in that sense in John 12: 13 and Revelation 7:12.

As the procession moved down the Mount of Olives, a whole multitude of disciples began to praise God. Presumably these were Galileans who had come for the Passover festival and now recognized Jesus whose miraculous deeds they had been witnessing for some time. Luke’s version of their song differs from the one recorded in Mark because he chose words from Ps. 118:26. Originally they were sung by the high priest welcoming pilgrims to the temple. Luke included the word “king” to signal that the crowds believed they were participating in the coronation procession of the Messiah.

Jesus himself took no part in the celebration. Instead, he rebuked  the Pharisees who complained about the crowd of disciples displaying their joyous expectations. His words appear to show that he shared the disciples’ messianic convictions, at least in Luke’s mind.

Preaching Points:

This is a Day of Rejoicing. How do we celebrate in the face of what we know will happen? Does our foreknowledge add or detract from our understanding of the reading? If not, how can the celebration of Palm Sunday be made truly celebratory?
The Gospel lesson is so well known that is may seem impossible to make it “hearable.” Why not use the Psalm as the basis for the sermon? Try emphasizing the cornerstone text (Ps. 118:22). What is the cornerstone of our faith? Does having our faith rejected, sometimes even by our spouse or children, diminish or strengthen it? How can we celebrate that?

LITURGY OF THE PASSION.

ISAIAH 50:4-9A. The unnamed prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile whose poetry is included in Isaiah 40-55 describes the response of persecuted people to their suffering. The longer poem (vss.1-11), from which      this reading is an excerpt, portrays the exile as the result of the nation’s sin against God (vs.1). The prophet-poet uses this reflection as a teaching    moment. Though written in the 6th century BC, the poem was seen by the    early Christian church as a prophecy of Jesus’ wholly unjust trial and    execution.

PSALM 31:9-16. Again the Christian church has interpreted this psalm with reference to the Passion of Christ. Orignally it was a lament and plea for God’s protection from persecution by false accusers. Though not in this  reading, according to Luke’s Gospel vs. 5 of this psalm was uttered by Jesus on the cross: “Into your  hand I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11. Paul may have found this hymn in use in one of the congregations he visited, or he may have created it himself. Note that while it does equate Jesus with God (vs. 6,) Jesus did not exploit that honour. Rather, it emphasizes his humanity, his death obedient to God’s will, and his exaltation so that he may be worshiped as Lord of all.

LUKE 22:14-23:56. It is not intended that the whole story of the Passion should be read during public worship, though this is often done in a special, extended service accompanied by  musical  selections and hymns. It could be used for personal devotions, however, throughout Holy Week.

Note how as the story progresses many people come and go, each having contact with Jesus in one way or another. In the end, Jesus is alone in death, commits himself into God’s keeping, and is buried in a unused tomb. Despite its apparent gloom, the story nonetheless has a deep sense of worship about it.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

ISAIAH 50:4-9A. We tend to select only excerpts of OT passages with reference to our Christian liturgical themes and seasons. This passage is yet another example of that kind of adaptation. We need to understand both the setting and significance of the original which was never  intended to prophesy the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The unnamed prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile whose poetry is included in Isaiah 40-55 describes the response of persecuted people to their suffering. Chapter 50:1-11 is a poem of four strophes (or stanzas: vss. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-11). It portrays the exile as the result of the nation’s sin against Yahweh’s covenant  (vs.1) and contrasts this with Yahweh’s faithfulness and that of the servant of Yahweh who suffers for his loyalty. Though written in the 6th century BC, the poem was seen by the early Christian church as a prophecy of Jesus’ faithfulness throughout his trial and unjust conviction and death on the cross.

The early church had only the Jewish scriptures from which to discover the relationship between the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to which they were witnesses and the purposes of God as revealed in the historical and religious traditions of Israel. It is not surprising, therefore, that the apostolic community made some unusual connections between various passages and their experience of the crucified and risen Christ. The obedient, faithful and persecuted servant of this passage gave them exceptional insight into the sufferings of Christ and their own sufferings under persecution in subsequent years.

It is hypothesized by redaction critics of the NT that instead of being actual accounts of what happened, the various versions of the Passion story were created, each from a different theological perspective, for very different audiences, and as expositions of relevant OT passages such as this one. Mel Gibson’s controversial movie, The Passion of Jesus the Christ, while drawing on all four gospels, has given a mediaeval interpretation to those sufferings more in keeping with Isaiah 52:13-53:12. While the NT does contain some reference to the great suffering and shame caused by  crucifixion, as in Hebrews 12:3, that is not its main emphasis. As Otto Piper, formerly of Princeton Seminary, put it, “While in the OT the believer becomes so occupied with his own suffering that he seems to lose sight of the rest of the world, the follower of Christ feels as a result of his suffering a deep compassion for the sufferings of others.” (Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. IV, 453.)

This prophecy puts greater emphasis on the trust of the persecuted one in Yahweh in order to encourage fellow sufferers. Physical violence plays a limited role in the action (vs. 6). Rather, this is a teaching moment (vs. 4) when the suffering servant is certain of his innocence and of Yahweh’s vindication. He also envisions an end to the persecution (vss. 8-9). It is this victory over suffering through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which becomes a central theme of the NT.

PSALM 31:9-16. Again the Christian church has interpreted this lament and plea for God’s protection from persecution by false accusers with reference to the Passion of Christ. According to W. Stewart McCullough in The Interpreter’s Bible,IV, 158ff, the psalm in its entirety consists of three laments woven together (vss. 1-8; 9-12; 13-18) and concluding with a hymn of thanksgiving (vss.19-24). This selection includes only the middle segments. Its two parts consist of the cry of someone who is suffering from some undefined illness (vss. 9-12) and of someone menaced by false accusations. The parallel with the Passion story is obvious, especially in vss.11-13. One could easily imagine Jesus reciting the prayer in vss. 14-16 as he stood silently before his accuser and bore the cross along the Via Dolorosa.

Or was it only in the imagination of later generations of Christians to magnify events along Via Dolorosa so that these became precious to the faithful in “the Stations of the Cross?” All four gospels have very little to say about the journey from Pilate’s seat of judgment to the place where the crucifixion actually occurred. Only the incidents about Simon of Cyrene being compelled to carry the cross and the wailing of the women of Jerusalem appear in the gospel narratives. The actual route of the journey to the place of crucifixion is lost among the ruins of the many destructive assaults on Jerusalem over the millennia. Archeologists and historians believe that following the Via Dolorosa is a sincere devotional journey with little relationship to the historical events at that time.

Though not in this reading, vs. 5 of this psalm was uttered by Jesus on the cross according to Luke’s narrative: “Into your hand I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) This gives further evidence of how the early church searched their Hebrew scriptures to better understand and communicate the Gospel.

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11. This is an early Christian hymn outlining the essential creed of the early church. In a few well chosen words it recites the whole sequence of the Incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus as described in the gospel records. But Paul had not read any of the gospel narratives which were all written after his own death. He knew only what the first apostles had proclaimed or had taught him after his conversion. It may be that he found this hymn in use in one of the congregations he visited, or he may have created it himself.

In NSRV the passage appears as poetry with some aspects of parallelism, one of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. William Barclay noted that it may well be an elaboration of 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

Note that it does seem to equate Jesus with God (vs. 6). Yet Barclay examined the original Greek more closely, as did E.F. Scott in The Interpreter’s Bible, XI, 48ff. Barclay came to the conclusion that this verse does express the “innate,  unchangeable, unalterable characteristics and ability of the man…. So Paul begins by saying that Jesus was essentially, unalterably, and unchangeable God.”

If it is easily accessible, Barclay’s exegesis of this passage in his Daily Bible Readings Series, The Letter to the Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, is well worth examining in detail. In particular, his definition of the two Greek words for “form” – morph‚ and schema – is helpful in understanding what he believes Paul claimed as the essential divine nature of the human Jesus: “The morph‚ (the word Paul uses) never changes …. However Jesus’ outward schema might alter, he remained in essence and in being divine.”

The humiliation of Jesus as a servant (again the word is morph‚) emphasizes his humanity and his death obedient to God’s will. This humiliation leads to his exaltation so that he may be worshiped as Lord of all. The seven week Season of Easter, from the Resurrection to Pentecost, celebrates this exaltation.

LUKE 22:14-23:56. It is not intended that  the whole story of the Passion should be read during public worship, though this has been done in a special, extended service accompanied by musical selections and hymns. Which segment should be used as the Gospel lesson for worship on Passion Sunday is a matter of considerable choice. The whole passage could be used for personal devotions, however, throughout Holy Week. A liturgy of the palms would have to look to Luke 19:28-40 as an alternative reading.

Note how as the story progresses that many people come and go, each having contact with Jesus in one way or another, and some role to play in the drama. The first to leave are those closest to him, Peter being that last. They were followed by his most hostile opponents, the chief priests and scribes when they delivered him to Pilate. Then Pilate himself gave up trying to administer justice and gave in to political expedience.

Quickly thereafter came Simon the Cyrene who carried the cross, the weeping women of Jerusalem, the two other criminals, the Roman centurion, and finally the crowds. In the end, Jesus commits himself into God’s keeping, and dies alone to be buried in an unused tomb.

In Jerusalem today, two sites are shown to tourists as probable locations of the place of crucifixion and burial. Without question, the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands is the more elaborate and traditional in Christian lore. Only since the late 19th century has the site of the Garden Tomb been favourably regarded as an alternate location.  The truth is that the actual place of Jesus’ death and resurrection are forever lost. The four Gospels each give a different version of the Passion story based on their differing theological standpoint and intentions as authors writing for very disparate communities.

A television documentary broadcast during the week of March 4, 2007 on the Discovery Channel in the USA and Visions in Canada presented a controversial discovery of ten stone burial ossuaries containing bones and three skulls had been located some years ago in a tomb in Jerusalem. The boxes were inscribed with the names of Jesus, Miriam (Mary), Miriamne (Mary Magdalene), and several others, presumed to be members of Jesus’ family. The documentary also claims that DNA has been found on two of the ossuaries which are not related – those of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene may have been married. Church authorities, theologians and archeologists all discounted the validity of this discovery. As with Gibson’s portrayal of the crucifixion, it is clear that the interpreter’s own theology determines which site or what objects are acceptable as a places or relics to inspire devotion and to be appropriately venerated. It was so also for the authors of the four Gospel narratives.

Luke’s version is not so much the climax to his Gospel as it is “a major turning point in salvation history, inaugurating the new period of the church and its universal mission. This period would be covered by the book of Acts.” (Reginald H. Fuller in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 365. In other words, for Luke, the Passion story is only the middle, not the ending of what Jesus came to do. And so it is for us, despite the sometimes brutal concentration of attention on the crucifixion as in Gibson’s movie of Jesus’ twelve last hours.

Preaching Points.

Most people in the congregation this Sunday will not likely be at any midweek, Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. For them the crucial homiletic opportunity is on Palm or Passion Sunday. How to make best use of this opportunity presents some difficulty in choosing the best text and theme for this liturgy and sermon. It cannot all be done at once. It might best to review the themes used throughout Lent and bring them toward a natural conclusion. This will not come this Sunday, of course, but on Easter when we celebration the Resurrection of our Lord.

Any one of the personalities appearing the Passion narrative may be used as the focal point of a sermon. Leslie D. Weatherhead’s Personalities of the Passion, first published in 1941 and republished several times would be a helpful resource.

In a recently published work Craig Evans and N.T. Wright have suggested that the gospel accounts describe with reasonable accuracy the execution practice of the Romans and the burial practices of the Jews. [Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened (Westminster John Knox, 2009)] While the crucifixion emphasized the terror of the experience for victims and witnesses alike, the burial was designed to comfort the mourners that the end of life had come without any hope of life beyond death.  The Pharisees did believe in resurrection, but they were a  minority party at this time. Most Jews did not share their conviction.

Arguing the pro’s and con’s of the Passion narrative itself is not advisable. This  a time for belief, not lifting up questions of doubt. The true meaning of the word “believe” is not credulously accepting the literal details of the narrative, or any specific sacrificial or salvationist theology, as the final word on why Jesus died. To believe means to discover what we mean by the love that compelled Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah/Christ and Son of God, to accept his own death by cruel execution as a political  criminal who had committed treason. Does he love me that much? How then should I love him and show his compassion for those whom he calls my neighbours?

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURES
Fifth Sunday of Lent   March 21, 2010

ISAIAH 43:16-21. To the Israelites in exile in Babylon, this unnamed prophet whose words are recorded in Isaiah 40-55 delivered a message of great hope and promise: the exiles were going home. The capture of Babylon about 539 BC by Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, had made this possible. The way home led through the wilderness, recalling the first exodus and the journey through the wilderness to the promised land under Moses many centuries earlier. This would happen because God willed it for God’s own people.

PSALM 126. This Song of Ascent celebrates the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. It echoes God’s intervention in Israel’s history as proclaimed in the prophecies of Isaiah 40-55. It may have been sung by pilgrims approaching the temple as part of a liturgy preparing for a new   year.

PHILIPPIANS 3:4b-14. Despite his background as a zealous Pharisee, Paul tells of giving up a promising career as a rabbi to follow Jesus. The one source of power for his new life came from his faith in the resurrection of Jesus, in which he longed to share. That had become his one goal which he now sought as zealously as he had sought to obey the Mosaic law in his youth.

JOHN 12:1-8. Mary of Bethany expressed her love and dedication to Jesus by perfuming his feet with a costly ointment. When Judas Iscariot protested the waste, Jesus acknowledged the gift as a symbol of preparing his body for burial; but he did not forget the poor as well.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

ISAIAH 43:16-21. It is always difficult to know where to begin and to end a particular selection from Deutero-Isaiah. Different commentaries are likely to make different choices as to the extent of specific poems and oracles. Generally speaking, however, the phrase “Thus says the Lord …” is a clue to the beginning of a new oracle. How several oracles may be included in a longer poem is a more complex issue.

In The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 5, p. 491ff. James Muilenburg places this selection in a longer poem extending from 43:14-44:5 of which this selection is but the second, third and fourth of nine strophes or stanzas. Muilenburg entitles the poem “Redemption By Grace.” He also states that the key to the whole poem lies in the first strophe (43:14-15) just prior to the beginning of this reading.

To the Israelites in exile in Babylon, this unnamed prophet delivered a message of great hope and promise: the exiles were to be set free and sent home. The capture of Babylon in 539 BC by Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, had made this possible.   There was to be a new exodus. It actually occurred in 536, so this poem may well date from the intervening three years.

Vs. 16 recalls the first exodus and the journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land under Moses many centuries earlier. The passage of Israel through the sea and the subsequent destruction of their Egyptian pursuers. (vs.17) demonstrated that nature and history are both under the sovereign control of Yahweh. The prophet then calls for the exiles in Babylon to turn from memory to hope (vs.18) for a great new deliverance is about to occur.

The road home is open to them as was the road through the wilderness and across many rivers to the Promised Land. This would happen because Yahweh willed it for Yahweh’s own people.  Yahweh would provide life-giving water for them in the thousand-mile trek through the desert. That had been a crucial issue for the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt. Unlike their ancestors, the promise of water and safety from lurking wild animals would reassure those of weak faith.

The return from exile in Babylon was not only an act of divine grace but also as a testimony to Yahweh’s mighty purpose for Israel. Vs. 21 states unequivocally that Yahweh’s intent was that the exiles would declare Yahweh’s praise. Imagine the amazement of every tribe through whose territory the returning exiles passed. Two generations earlier, their Babylonian overlords had led the Israelites eastward in chains. Now they were marching homeward in a rejoicing throng spreading the good news of Yahweh’s blessed deliverance as they went.

PSALM 126. This Song of Ascent, one of fifteen contained in Pss. 120-134, celebrates the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, yet reflects life of a later, more difficult period in Israel’s history. Writing long after the event, the psalm echoes God’s intervention in Israel’s history as proclaimed in the prophecies of Isaiah 40-55 and other prophets of the post-exilic period, Zechariah, Haggai and Ezra.  These psalms may have been sung by pilgrims approaching the restored temple as part of a liturgy preparing for one of the great festivals.

Yet this particular psalm may actually be more of a lament for hard times. It begins and ends with a plea for restored fortunes. Do the references to water and the harvest suggest a time of drought? Could this be a hint that the psalm was used in the new year’s liturgy or at the harvest festival of Succoth when hope for better days was much on the minds of worshipers?

PHILIPPIANS 3:4b-14. Do you suppose that Paul either had a very low self-image or was constantly attacked for having inadequate credentials as an apostle? He seems to have felt called on to defend his qualifications on several occasions. Here he cites his background as a faithful Jew of the strictest kind. Despite this background as a zealous Pharisee, he had given up a promising career as a rabbi to follow Jesus. But note the antecedent to this self-defense. It throws his subsequent assertions into high relief.

In vss.2-3, he had castigated the Judaizers who promoted circumcision as a prior commitment for Gentile Christians. There may have been few Jews in Philippi, but obviously they were very orthodox. Archeologists have not yet discovered a synagogue among the considerable ruins of this substantial Roman administrative centre. What is more, it would seem to have been women like Lydia who first responded to Paul’s preaching at a place of prayer by the river (Acts 16:13-15). Such a situation would almost certainly give rise to jealousy and controversy from those who wished to preserve orthodox, male domination in the new community Paul was helping to create in Lydia’s house church.

In the light of these circumstances, it is not surprising that Paul should use his own experience as a zealous Pharisee to clarify for the Philippians both the sacrifices and the promises of being a Christian in a hostile world. It has even been speculated that Paul had sacrificed his own marriage to a high-born Jewish women of Jerusalem, perhaps the daughter of Caiaphas or some other dominant family.

Three words stand out in what Paul had to say about the gains he had received in knowing Christ: righteousness, faith and resurrection. William Barclay defines what those words meant to Paul: Righteousness meant “a right relationship with God.” Faith meant “taking Jesus Christ at his word;” and “accepting what God offers you through Christ.” Resurrection meant “the guarantee of the importance of life in this body in which we live; … the guarantee of the life to come; …the guarantee that in life and in death the presence of the risen Lord is always with us.” (The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Edinburgh: Church of Scotland, Daily Bible Readings.  77-79.)

Paul now knew that the one source of power for his new life came from his faith in the resurrection of Jesus, in which he longed to share. That had become his one goal which he now sought as zealously as he had sought to obey the Mosaic law in his youth.

It is not unusual for converts to be forceful enthusiasts for their new faith. Conviction tends to transform even normal life experiences into opportunities for witness. Church history has many such ardent evangelists. Some, like John Henry Newman, a prominent Anglican churchman of Oxford, converted to Roman Catholicism, and became a cardinal of his new tradition.  John Newton, a degraded slave trader, was known as “the perpetual deacon of Olney” and left numerous saintly hymns celebrating his new faith.

JOHN 12:1-8. Women play an unusually large part in John’s Gospel. In this incident, Mary of Bethany, expressed her love and devotion to Jesus by perfuming his feet with a costly ointment and wiping them with her hair. We know who Mary was from John’s explicit identification (vs.1) which follows Luke 10:38-42. But she was not the same woman who performed a similar act according to Luke 7:36-50. That error is still being offered by some interpreters. Nor was she Mary Magdalene with whom the Western church identified her from the 6th century CE, a fictional assessment followed by modern movies. The Eastern church rejected this mistaken identification. John’s story, however, does show some dependence on the Synoptic tradition of Mark 14:1-9 and Matthew 26:1-13.

Jesus appears to have made the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus his headquarters during his last visit to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. It is not difficult to see why. Bethany was a hamlet just over the eastern ridge of the Mount of Olives. Today, when one looks eastward toward the Mount of Olives from any vantage point in the city overlooking the Kedron Valley, one can see the spire of the ancient church erected on the traditional site of the home where this incident occurred. The minaret of a nearby mosque is even more visible. The distance to Bethany from the Beautiful Gate to the Temple would have been no more than three kilometres; and less than that from the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

There the Bethany family gave a dinner party for Jesus. Martha and Mary played their customary roles. Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair was a most astonishing display of affection and devotion. Is it too much to give a 20th century Freudian interpretation of this demonstrative display? Many devoted Christians has found their piety and their sexuality strangely and simultaneously enhanced.  Perhaps this was what motivated the confusion of Mary of Bethany with Mary of Magdala, although there is no scriptural evidence that the latter was in any way promiscuous.

Judas was quick to put an economic value to what happened. John had his own agenda in casting Judas in the role of a thief (vs. 6). John may have used this as a warning to some of the members of his own diaspora community in the latter decade of the 1st century. Here Judas corresponds to the Ephesian “evildoers … who claim to be apostles but are not” in Revelation 2:2; or to the Laodicean “rich (who say) I have prospered, and I need nothing,” in Revelation 3:17.

When Judas Iscariot protested the waste, Jesus acknowledged the gift as a symbol of preparing his body for burial; but he did not forget the poor as well. They would be with us always and needing our concern and help. As the parable of Matthew 25:31-46 so beautifully describes, our gifts to anyone in need, large or small, are tokens of our loyalty and commitment, as well as expressions of our love for Christ.

 NU5WMBUKGFK7

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Third Sunday of Lent – March 7, 2010

ISAIAH 55:1-9. Gracious, merciful acceptance by God for all who seek such a relationship stands out as the theme of these magnificently poetic lines. But God does not ignore human sin. God seeks human repentance, a meaningful change in one’s behaviour for this relationship to be effective. This is necessary, the prophet emphasizes, because of the distinction between our human ways and God’s ways.

PSALM 63:1-8. The longing of the human heart for a relationship with God gives this psalm an intense feeling personal devotion. It expresses an abiding trust and confidence in God fully dependent on God’s constant love and  protection.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13. Paul draws on the story of the Israelites in the wilderness breaking their covenant with God to challenge the Corinthians to live differently than their morally and  spiritually corrupt society. The great benefit of the Christian life, he states in vs. 13, is not that they will be tested by their circumstances, but that God will not let them be tested beyond their strength to endure.

LUKE 13:1-9. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who later condemned Jesus to death, had murdered a group of worshipers as they offered sacrifices in the temple. Another group had been killed by a falling tower. As Messiah, Jesus used these incidents to call his fellow Jews to repent and believe in him. The parable of the fig tree confronted them with the prospect that there could be a limit to God’s forbearance.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

ISAIAH 55:1-9. If one wishes to know where Paul obtained his basic theological conception of the grace of God brought to its fullest expression in Jesus of Nazareth, one need look no further than this poem. Scholars generally agree that the superb poetry of Deutero-Isaiah’s (chs. 40-55) come to a natural close. All the themes identified in the opening poem in 40:1-11 as well as the major emphases of all subsequent oracles echo through this composition. The remainder the book (chs. 56-66) is believed to have been composed by others who followed his general themes and style.

Here is the consolation of Israel: forgiveness for individuals and community, Israel’s mission of reconciliation through suffering, a vision of universal salvation, a new exodus in the return of the exiles, the redemption of creation – all accomplished because Israel’s God, Yahweh, wills it so and will make it possible. Yahweh’s covenant promise is the vehicle through which this will be done.

Gracious, merciful acceptance by Yahweh for all who seek such a covenant relationship stands out in these magnificent lines. But Yahweh does not ignore human sin.  Yahweh seeks sincere human repentance, a meaningful change in human behavior, for this relationship to be effective. This is necessary, the prophet emphasizes, because of the distinction between our human ways and Yahweh’s ways.

Of special note is the emphasis placed upon listening intently for the word of Yahweh.  Throughout the OT and particularly in the prophets, “the word of the Lord” is the medium of revelation. In vss. 2-3 Yahweh bids Israel listen so that they may live. By this means Yahweh made known Yahweh’s will and purpose, especially for Israel as the chosen people. The content of the revelation Yahweh desires Israel to hear is the everlasting covenant. Beyond the mere hearing of the word, however, is the reason for the revelation and the covenant. Israel is to be a witness to the peoples of all nations. Despite many transgressions and failures to be what they had been called to be, Yahweh had not given up on them. Yahweh’s purpose would be accomplished even as the rain and snow make the soil fertile for a productive harvest (vs. 10-11) and the renewal of all creation (vs. 12-13).

For the authors of the NT and for Christians ever since, Jesus is the word come from God.  (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-4) As one Roman Catholic commentator on this passage said in traditional theological terms that Jesus did not return to God void but achieved the end for which he was sent:  to give expression to God’s infinite love and compassion, to enter into our humanity,  to show us how to live, to bring hope and salvation to all who walk in darkness.

What God intended for Israel, to be a witness to all peoples, God is now accomplishing through us still. “Each of us is a word of God, spoken only once at our creation, to give continuing expression to God’s love and compassion. What a blessing!   What a challenge!   We must achieve the end for which we were sent.  We will not return to God void. Yet with his word, Jesus, God has given us all that we need to achieve the end for which we were sent — if we but ask.” (From Maxine Shock, OP, Lenten Seeds. Heartland Center For Spirituality. (http://www.shalomplace.com)

For those seeking an emphasis on social justice so prevalent in the prophets of Israel, vss. 10-13 provide an excellent text for our own time. What is our personal, corporate and national environmental footprint in this day of global crisis? How shall we repent enough to make a difference for future generations to live as well as we have? What must we do to be saved? Repentance always means change.

PSALM 63:1-8. The longing of the human heart for a relationship with Yahweh gives this psalm an intense feeling  personal devotion. It expresses an abiding trust and confidence in Yahweh fully dependent on Yahweh’s constant love and protection. Even as it now stands in our English versions, it has been highly valued by countless generations.

Yet there are problems occasioned by a possible confusion in the order of the verses as they now stand. Scholarly examination of the original text suggests that vss. 6-8 should follow vss. 1-2. This transposition creates a typical lament. Distressed by hostile enemies, the devout soul seeks Yahweh’s presence in the sanctuary. There finding the spiritual resources for courage and confidence in Yahweh, the psalmist makes a vow to sing praises to God all his life. Initial despair leads to devotion which enriches faith and ends in praise.

While not included in this reading, vss. 9-11 seem to have little to do with the rest of the psalm and could have been added by another hand. Yet there is some reason to believe that the outburst of vindictiveness expressed in vs. 10 reflects the intensity of the psalmist’s spiritual struggle.

It may be helpful to read a modern paraphrase of the psalm like that by Jim Taylor in his Everyday Psalms. (Wood Lake Books, 1994). Jim entitles his paraphrase with the title “Holy Presence” and a question and answer: “Why do we need downtown churches? Because a few people still come there to seek sanctuary.” He then gives a moving testimony of someone seeking respite from the meaningless scurry of the contemporary rat race. In his Psalms/Now, (Concordia, 1973) Leslie F. Brandt depicts a thirsty child reaching for a drink as a metaphor of this psalmist reaching for and finding God.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13. Paul was probably a much younger contemporary of Jesus, but did not meet him until his unique resurrection appearance to Paul on the Damascus Road. As a well-educated Pharisee of the Hellenistic Diaspora rather than a peasant Galilean, Paul may well have read the Hebrew scriptures in Greek and interpreted them within the context of his own generation and culture. Because Paul died before the destruction of the temple ending the first Jewish Revolt of 66-70 CE, it would be interesting to speculate how Paul might have dealt with that event and the subsequent triumph of the Pharisees in Judaism. We may well have one such reaction by a Christian leader in the unknown author of the Letter to the Hebrews.

One of the characteristics of early Christian preaching and teaching, including that of Paul, was to use OT passages not merely as illustrations, but as the very basis for their instruction in the new faith tradition and the Christian way of life. In this passage Paul drew on the story of the Israelites in the wilderness breaking their covenant with God to challenge the Corinthians to live differently than their morally and spiritually corrupt society. But Paul was both honoring and condemning his ancestral traditions as he wrote to what may have been a predominantly Gentile Christian audience. He also likened the events of the Exodus led by Moses to the Christians’ experience of baptism and the eucharist. In vss. 3-4 he even identified the manna and the rock which Moses struck to obtain water with the spiritual food and drink of the sacraments.

But what was Paul really saying to his Corinthian friends? That receiving the Christian sacraments will not save them as the Exodus and the wilderness experience in themselves did not save the Israelites? The words “a some of them did” sound like a drumbeat through this passage. Because of the Israelites’ idolatry,  he claimed, most of those who fled Egypt died in the wilderness long before the remnant straggled into the Promised Land. Their wandering away from the way mandated by Yahweh, so they met their doom.  Adherence to ritual is no guarantee of being in right relationship with God. Living must correlate with liturgy.

Or was Paul confronting some other issue in Corinth? As a devout and learned Jew, Paul knew full well the traditional link between idolatry and sexual immorality which so frequently enticed his ancestors in the wilderness. Witness the brutal treatment of those who married Moabites and adopted the fertility god Baal of Peor described in Numbers 25:1-9.  Paul sternly warned the Corinthians that their sexual behavior could well have the same result, if for no other reason than that it is a common human failing (vss. 7-8, 11-12). The seaport city of Corinth was notorious for sexual promiscuity and licentious living. The Corinthians had something to learn from the experience of the Israelites.

At the same time, Paul did not leave them without a word of encouragement. The great benefit of the Christian life, he stated in vs. 13, is not that they will be tested by their circumstances, but that God will not let them be tested beyond their strength to endure. Here, as always in Paul’s declaration of the Christian way, the grace of God was operative, not simply human moral effort. One has to wonder if Paul would preach or write in a similar vein to our North American culture.

LUKE 13:1-9. Luke gives us a glimpse of the violent and hostile world in which Jesus lived. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who later condemned Jesus to death, had murdered a group of worshipers as they offered their sacrifices for the temple. Strangely, there is no other ancient record of this atrocity. Another group had been killed by a falling tower, part of Jerusalem’s fortifications  near the important water source, the  pool of Siloam and its reservoir. Such tragedies would naturally produce great fear among common people. In the simplistic conventions of the times, these incidents would have been used by religious leaders to warn the general populace that such events resulted from sin on the part of the victims.

Jesus explicitly refuted this simplistic traditional belief. Calamity can happen to anyone, sinner and righteous alike. As Messiah, Jesus used these incidents to call his fellow Jews to repent and believe in him. He foresaw disaster ahead for his people. Their only hope was to accept him for who he was and fulfill their historic mission of making God known to the world. In saying this, he clearly challenged the traditional view that the Jews held of their election as God’s covenant people. All Jews regarded this divine favor with great pride. They looked for a Messiah who would rout their oppressors and establish Israel’s worldly dominance. As the true Messiah come from God, Jesus had a quite different mission.  The parable of the fig tree confronted them with a last chance to recognize him and to respond to God’s mercy, or find that there is a limit to God’s forbearance.

What seems puzzling is why Luke inserted these teachings at this point in his narrative written for a Gentile audience.  There is every likelihood that Luke was reporting an oral tradition of words Jesus’ actually spoke. The parable of the fig tree has the sense of Jesus’ Galilean origins and his preference for rural vignettes like this. Or could Luke be interpreting for his audience 50 years later certain historical events of which they already knew well?

Pilate was recalled from his post in 36 CE after a similarly murderous act against Samaritans.  The fall of Jerusalem to Titus in 70 CE would still have been fresh in everyone’s mind when Luke wrote about 85 CE. As Paul did in his letter to the Corinthians, could Luke have been calling his audience to repentance and pleading with them to change their ways lest a similar fate befall them? To reject Jesus’ way was to put themselves in the same danger as the many victims of Roman oppression so extremely exemplified in the sacking of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple. It was unnecessary for Luke to remind his audience that Jesus himself was a victim of Roman injustice.

In a fascinating little book drawn from a series of BBC radio broadcasts in 1946, historian Herbert Butterfield, of Cambridge University, made a case for his conviction that God allows humanity the freedom to commit enormous sins such as the two world wars and holocausts of the early 20th century. (Christianity and History, 1949.) Yet there is a sense, he claimed,  that these great atrocities are also the very acts by means of which Providence resets the course of history.  One can certainly read the OT stories of the Exodus and the Exile in Babylon in this light. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus can also be accounted for in this manner.

Indeed, it was Butterfield’s faith as a liberal Christian which motivated his study of the modern era as “providential.” From this approach, he drew the conclusion that the purpose of history is, from the personal point of view at least, to engage in doing what is right and good following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  He ended his broadcasts with these words:

“The hardest strokes of heaven fall in history upon those who imagine that they can control things in a sovereign manner, as though they were kings of the earth, playing Providence not only for themselves but for the far future …. And it is a defect in such enthusiasts that they seem unwilling to leave everything to Providence, unwilling even to leave the future flexible, as one must do….

“It is agreeable to all the processes of history, therefore, that each of us should rather do the good that is straight under our noses. Those people work most wisely who seek to achieve good in their own small corner of the world and then leave the leaven to leaven the lump, than those who are forever thinking that life is vain unless one can act through the central government, carry legislation, achieve political power and do big things….

“We can do worse than remember a principle which both gives us a firm Rock and leaves us the maximum elasticity for our minds: the principle: Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.”

Although Butterfield spoke more than 60 years ago, his words still have potent meaning for us. We live in a similarly violent time when our providential God may once again be intervening to reset the course of world history. Is that the meaning we may take from the end of the Cold War, the break up of the USSR, and the present struggles of the world’s wealthiest nations to overcome the current global recession? Does Haiti’s natural disaster resulting from the earthquake on January 12, 2010 give us the opportunity to respond to God and change our ways? Will we heed the warning or ignore it to our sorrow? Is the basic issue of our time not also a matter of how far we may test God’s forbearance?