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Wrestling with the Word, episode 8: Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B (Feb. 15, 2009) January 26, 2009

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Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Think of the words “comedy,” “community,” and “communication.” The stories of the healing of lepers in Mark 1:40-45 and 2 Kings 5:1-14 take on special meaning when we realize that when a person in the ancient world was declared to have leprosy, that person was destined to live alone, away from the company of other people. The laws in Leviticus 13—14 describe the examination by the priest, the resultant abandonment of the person from the community, and the means by which the person could be declared clean once again and restored to the community. The Psalm for the day brings us into the world of one who has felt cut off from the community and from God but now announces joy and thanksgiving over God’s healing.

Download or listen to Wrestling with the Word, episode 8: Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B.

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2 Kings 5:1-14
God provides knowledge of himself to those outside the community of faith through the words of people and, above all, through the divine word itself.

Context
Receiving the cloak of succession from Elijah, the prophet Elisha followed his mentor until that day when the whirlwind took Elijah up to heaven (2 Kings 2:-12). As evidence of his succession, Elisha performed at the outset many of the same acts as the predecessor, including the miracle of the abundance of oil out of small beginnings, the raising from the dead the son of the Shunamite woman, and the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Furthermore, like his master, his miracles and ministry extended beyond Israelites to include the Gentiles.

Key Words
V. 1. “by him the Lord had given victory to Syria”: The extension of the Lord’s power reaches beyond the boundaries of Israel by this gift of victory to a commander of a non-Israelite army—whether he knew it or not. In the future, the Lord will use Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon as “my servant” (see Jer. 25:9 and elsewhere) and Cyrus, king of Persia, as “my shepherd” (Isa. 44:28 ) and “my anointed”… “though you do not know me” (Isa, 45:1, 5). That Naaman came to know the name of the Lord is clear from his response to Elisha’s instruction at v. 11.

V. 7. ha’elōhîm ‘ānî lehāmît ûlehachayôt = “Am I god, to kill and to make alive,…?”: The view that God was responsible for both life and death is attested several times in the Old Testament. In the Song of Hannah both weal and woe are the responsibility of the Lord who “kills and brings to life” (1 Sam. 2:6). In addition, the familiar words of Job ring out here: “the Lord gave, and the Lord had taken away” (Job 1:21).

V. 8. weyēda‘ kî yēš nābî’ beyisrā’ēl = “that he may know there is a prophet in Israel”: (1) The expression “that (someone) may know” appears in the story of the exodus (Exod. 9:14; 10:2) and in the promises of the return from Babylon (cf. Ezek. 35:9; 36:11; 37:14); through the Lord’s action for salvation or for judgment, others will come to know who he is. (2) What it takes to know there is a prophet is quite different at Ezekiel 33:33 where the Lord promises such awareness when the people ignore the prophecies.

V. 14. kidebar ’iš hā’elōhîm wayyāšob besārō kibesar na‘ar qātōn wayyithar = “… according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”: In the Deuteronomistic history, events of various sorts occur “according to the word of the Lord” (see 1 Kings 8:20; 12:15; 15:29; 16:12; 2 Kings 1:17; 23:16-18; 24:2). While the verb tāhar = “to be clean” often denotes ceremonial or ritual purity (e.g., Lev. 14:20, 53), it refers here to the physical cleansing of leprosy.

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Psalm 30
In spite of the initial words that attribute the psalm to the occasion of purification of the Jerusalem Temple in 165 B.C., the psalm is an individual thanksgiving in response to an individual lament. Verses 6-10 articulate the lament and the situation in which the worshiper, even though the worshiper alludes to it in summary form in verses 1-3: troubled by enemies, the psalmist cried to the Lord for help, even from the depths of Sheol, and the Lord heard and healed. In verses 6-10 the lament is described in more detail. Because of the psalmist’s arrogance over prosperity, the Lord hid away (see Pss. 10:1; 27:9; 55:1; 104:21), a truly “lamentable” situation. In response to the cries for the Lord’s help/strength, the Lord dressed up the petitioner for a new occasion—party clothes instead of mourning garments. In response to this divine response, the psalmist, unable to remain silent (v. 12), encourages the faithful ones gathered in the temple to join in the praises and thanksgivings (v. 4).

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1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Having freed us from the power of sin and the condemnation of the law by baptism into Christ’s death, God calls us to live out our new identity through the way we lives our lives.

Context
Paul continues to address questions raised in a letter from the Corinthian congregation. In the immediately preceding paragraphs, he has written about the tension between freedom and responsibility, all in service to the law of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

Key Words
V. 25. pas de ho agōnizomenos panta egkryteuetai = “Every athlete practices self-control in all things”: Paul uses the word for self-control for the unmarried at 7:9; there also he is establishing limits of freedom. At Gal. 5:23 such “self-control” is one of the fruits of the Spirit. At 2 Peter 1:6 such self-control is the supplement to knowledge.

V. 25 hēmeis de aphtharton = “but we an imperishable”: the same adjective describes the resurrected body at 1 Cor. 15:32 and the resurrection inheritance at 1 Peter 1:4.

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Mark 1:40-45
Responding to the plea from the man with leprosy to make him clean, Jesus heals him for restoration to the community through the practice prescribed in the Mosaic law.

Context
Jesus has been proclaiming in word and deed the message that the reign of God has come near. He has been calling a new community, exorcizing Satan’s army of unclean spirits, and healing the sick—all signs that the day of the Lord has begun..

Key Words
V. 40. “a leper”: Whether the man had leprosy as we know it today or a skin disease of some other sort, he was regarded as one who was unclean. The “medical” examination, conducted by the priest, determined the diagnosis (Lev. 13). If the priest declared him unclean, the leper had to live alone, banished from the community. The leper even had to announce “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever other people came near (Lev. 13:45-46). Shakespeare’s Romeo (in the play Romeo and Juliet) probed the depths of his sentence to banishment.

V. 41. kai splagchnistheis = “and moved with pity”: Jesus’ response of compassion to those who come to him for healing is evident also in Mark at 6:34 (Matt. 9:36) and 8:2; at 9:22 the word is used in a petition by the father of a young boy possessed of a demon.

v. 44. alla hypage seauton deixon tō hierei kai prosenegke peri tou katharismou sou ha prosetaxen Mōusēs, eis martuyrion autois = “but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as witness to them”: The rather detailed law for the protocol that led to atonement and restoration to the community is described at Lev. 14:2-32.

V. 45. ho de exelthōn ērxato kēryssein polla kai diaphēmizein ton logon = “And going out, he began to announce/preach loudly and to spread the word widely”: The miracle of the leper’s healing compelled him to express his praise and thanks in words to the communities to which he was restored, much like the healed person of Psalm 30.

Wrestling with the Word, episode 7: Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B (Feb. 8, 2009) January 19, 2009

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Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Three of the four passages for this Sunday include God’s act of healing those in need. The first lesson from Isaiah 40 announces God’s response to the exiles in Babylon who feel forsaken by God. Psalm 147 praises God as both Creator and Redeemer who, among other things, heals the brokenhearted who cried out for help. In Mark 1 Jesus continues to demonstrate the nearness of the kingdom of God through his ministry of healing. The lesson from 1 Corinthians 9 connects with the Gospel for the day on mission of Paul, as of Jesus, to preach the gospel.

Download or listen to Wrestling with the Word, episode 7: Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B.

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Isaiah 40:21-31

Addressing God’s word to an exiled people who felt God had forsaken them, the prophet asserts the supremacy of the Lord and the promise of renewal for those who wait for the Lord.

Context

The prophet we call Second Isaiah preached to the exiles in Babylon probably somewhere after 550 B.C. By this time, the people of Jerusalem had been living under Babylonian supremacy for more than 45 years. They had heard the word of the Lord only from the prophet Ezekiel in the early part of their exile, and because of God’s silence the people developed laments and many abandoned the Lord for the gods of Babylon. Second Isaiah, therefore, had two major issues to confront: (1) the apparent absence of God and (2) the idolatry of many people. God called him to announce the coming victory of the Lord over the idols and the human powers that be.

Key Words

V. 22. wayyimtāchēm kā’ōhel lāšābet = “and he spreads them like the tent to dwell”: the stretching out the heavens as the place where divinities live might be polemical against the creation myth of the Babylonians in which the abode of the gods is the body of the slain Tiamat (the Deep).

V. 25. we’el-mî tedammeyînû = “and to whom will you compare me?”: Here the Lord is addressing the question to the people, whereas in vs. 18 the prophet asks the same question of the people in relation to idols. Israel had long praised the Lord as being incomparable (see Ps. 89:6), but apparently, they had come to doubt it. See 43:8-13; 44:6-8; 46:5; 48:3-5.

V. 27. nisterā darkî mēYHWH ûmē’lōhay mišpātî ya‘abōd = “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right/justice is disregarded by my God”: A similar statement by the people appears at 49:14. This feeling of God forsakenness lies at the heart of the lament form; see Pss. 7, 13, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31, 55, 77, 88, 89, 102.

V. 28. ’elōhê ‘ôlām YHWH bōrē’ qetsôt hā’ārets = God of eternity is the Lord, Creator of the ends of the earth”: The announcement that YHWH is the Creator of the earth—and not Marduk—provides the argument that YHWH has the power over nations and kings and can, therefore, accomplish the promised deliverance. See also Isa. 42:5; 44:24-25; 45:18. Bringing together the confession that God is both the Creator and the Redeemer, Second Isaiah makes a valuable contribution to Israel’s faith.

V. 29. nōtēn layyā‘ēp kōach ûle’ên ’ônîm ‘otsmā yarbeh = “he gives power to the faint and strengthens those without power”: God’s healing of the weary and faint is a common theme in the OT; see, for example, Deut. 32:39; Isa. 19:22; 57:18f.; Jer. 30:17; 33:6; Hos. 6:1; 11:3; Pss. 6:2; 30:2; 41:4; 147: 3.

V. 31. yārûtsû … yēlekû = “they shall run … they shall walk/go”: in a synonymous parallelism these two verbs mean the same.

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Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

The Lord be praised for the saving and healing the people of Israel and for providing care of all his creatures.

Structure

Like the preaching of Second Isaiah (see Isa. 40:21-31 above), the first part of the psalm (vss. 1-6) praises God as Savior and as Creator. The saving event appears in the praise to God for rebuilding Jerusalem and gathering the outcasts, that is, the exiles. In this sense, God has responded to the laments from the people. Further, God is the one who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (For the “healing” activity of God, see some references in the discussion at Isa. 40:29; the Hebrew word means basically “to make whole.”) The psalm extols the creating power of God by referring to the stars and the naming of the constellations (see Isa. 40:26). The second part (vss. 7-11) bursts forth in thanksgiving for God’s care of all creatures and for the care that God provides in feeding them by sending rain so that causes the crops might grow. Again, like Isaiah 40:29-31, God is not impressed with human strength but with those who wait for and hope in God’s covenant loyalty. The third (vss. 12-20) calls the chosen people to praise God for the blessings bestowed on Jerusalem.

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1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Entrusted and commissioned with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul writes that while we are free from all people and things, we are enslaved to Christ and called to heed his law.

Context

In responding to the questions raised by the Corinthian congregation via mail, Paul continues the discussion about Christian freedom he began at 8:1.

Key Words

V. 16. “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”:  Like Jeremiah who lamented the call from God but could not but obey (Jer. 20:9), Paul admits that God compels him to preach the good news about Jesus and to do so freely, that is, without pay.

V. 17. oikonomian pepisteumai = “I am entrusted with a stewardship”: At 4:1 Paul indicated that Christian identity focused on our being “servants of Christ and stewards (oikonomous) of the mysteries of God,” that is, of the gospel.

V. 18. tē exousia mou en tō euangleiō = “my authority in the gospel”: refer to the discussion in Episode 6 on the use of “authority” in the Bible.

V. 19. Eleutheros gar ōn ek pantōn pasin emauton edoulōsa, hina tous pleoonas kerdēsō = “Though I am free from all, I enslaved myself to all, so that I might win the most”: The notion that Paul has enslaved himself stands somewhat in tension with his statement at 6:19-20 that God bought him with a high price, namely, the life of his Son. At 2 Cor. 4:5 Paul writes that we are “your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” Still elsewhere, Paul uses terminology that reflects ancient sacred manumission decrees: “for freedom” at Gal. 5:1.

V. 21. mē ōn anomos theou all’ ennomos Christou = “Not being a lawless one of God but a law-abiding one of Christ”: Paul uses the law of Christ elsewhere. At Gal. 6:2 “the law of Christ is to “bear one another’s burdens,” and at Rom. 13:8-10—without using the phrase—Paul highlights the command of loving the neighbor as oneself (Lev. 19:18 ) as the sum of the law (also see Gal. 5:14). Jesus’ so-called new commandment is to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

V. 22. hina tous astheneia kerdēsō = “so that I might win the weak”: The weak might be (a) those Christians who have not yet matured to comprehend the freedom of the gospel, like 8:9, or (b) non-Christians, as in Rom. 5:6. The goal to “win” actually means the same as “save” at the end of the verse. The use of the verb at this point leads to the athletic imagery of racing and boxing that follows.

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Mark 1:29-39

With the authority of God, Jesus heals the sick, casts out demons, and preaches his message, all signs that God is breaking into human history with a new time.

Context

Following his baptism, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the message about the nearness of the reign of God. Immediately thereafter he began calling into being a new community of disciples and exorcised a demon.

Key Words

V. 31.  kai diekonei autois = “and she was serving them”:  the impf. indicates an ongoing activity, thus the NRSV “she began to serve them” is better than the RSV “and she served them.” In any case, the verb diakoneō is used frequently, but not exclusively, for the physical care provided by women for Jesus and the others; see Mark 15:41; Luke 8:3; John 12:2. For the service Jesus offers to humanity, see Mark 10:43-45.

V. 34. kai etherapeusen pollous kakōs = “and he cured/healed many sick”: In Mark’s Gospel Jesus heals others at 3:2, 10, 15; 6:5, 13. Thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit at Acts 2, the early church continued this healing ministry at 4:14; 5:16; 8:7; and 28:9. This healing is not simply the curing of diseases but the restoration to wholeness.

V. 34.  kai ouk ēphien lalein ta daimonia = “and he would not allow the demons to speak”:  The silencing of the demons and other forces of chaos is one of the ways Jesus brings them under control; see Mark 1:25; 4:39.  At the same time, the words contribute to the so-called Messianic secret which is typical of Mark: see 3:11-12; 8:30; 9:9.

V. 35. eis erēmon topon = “to a lonely place”:  In such locations Jesus is interrupted by others, paving the way for acts of ministry to occur; see also Luke 9:12.

V. 39.  hina ekei keruxō eis touto gar exēlthon = so that I might preach, for I came out for this (purpose)”:  the verse crystallizes the mission on which Jesus was sent:  to preach so that all might believe. See the key expression also at 1:14:  kērussōn to euaggelion tou theou.

Wrestling with the Word, episode 6: Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B (Feb. 1, 2009) January 14, 2009

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Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

We say that this person is an authority on global economics or that person is an authority on birds of prey and another is an authority on black holes. But to say that people are authorities in various fields is not the same as saying they have authority. Having authority is a power that comes with an office like king or queen, president or judge. Such authority can be designated to others by someone of higher authority, and so in various realms and at various levels persons demand and command. Different people have influence and respect. Superiors with higher authority can always control those of lesser authority, and so there are limits to authority. There is another side to authority. It includes the right to do something or the right over something, and so having authority sometimes means the freedom to act. The lessons for this day deal in various ways with being authorities (possessing wisdom and skill), with having authority (power and influence), and with limiting one’s authority or freedom.

Download or listen to Wrestling with the Word, episode 6: Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B.

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Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Because the people realized they were not able to hear the word of God directly, God promised to raise up a prophet after Moses through whom God would speak authoritatively.

Context
Deuteronomy 12—26 comprises the Code of Deuteronomy. Considered an updating of the much older Book of the Covenant (Exod. 21—23) couched in the words of Moses, the code expresses God commands for living in the land of Canaan. Chapter 18 describes the kind of leadership–priests, soothsayers, mediums, prophets–the people should or should not have in their lives in Canaan. In our pericope God promises for the people “a prophet” to serve as spokesperson for God’s word.

V. 15.  nābî’ … yāqîm lekā YHWH = “a prophet … YHWH shall establish for you”:  used for the kinds of leaders YHWH will provide for the people:  judges (Judg. 2:16, 18; 3:9, 15), a priest (1 Sam. 2:35), a king (1 Kings 14:14; cf. also 2 Sam. 7:12; 1 Kings 15:4).

V. 15. ΄ēlāw tišmā‘ûn = “to him you shall listen”: LXX renders these words quite literally as autou akousasthe = “to him you shall listen.” The commissioning of such a Moses figure will convey to him an authority based on speaking the prophetic word of God. The command seems to lie behind God’s concluding words from the cloud at the Transfiguration where akouete autou = “listen to him” is addressed to the three disciples concerning Jesus (Mark 9:7; note the presence of Moses on the mountain).

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Psalm 111
Like Psalm 112 and others, this psalm is an acrostic in which each half verse begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This structure accounts for its different style—not a parallelism of two lines as is true of most Hebrew poetry. According to v. 1, the psalm is a song of thanksgiving delivered in the sanctuary in the midst of the worshiping congregation. Yet usually a worshiper uses a thanksgiving psalm following the deliverance of a particularly lamentable situation (see the sequence of lament to thanks in Psalm 22). Here, however, the public thanksgiving is based on the ongoing goodness of God in delivering Israel from bondage and in establishing the covenant with Israel. Within that covenant God has uttered commands (like the Code of Deuteronomy) that are just, and God has remained ever loyal to the relationship (the meaning of “righteousness”). The lesson to be learned from all this praise to the Lord is that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” –exactly as the wisdom teacher instructed in Proverbs 1:7. The statement would bear on Paul’s concerns about the true definition of wisdom in 1 Cor. 8.

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1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Responding to a question about the relationship of Christian freedom and the practice of eating meat offered to idols, Paul reframed the question to focus on freedom and love.

Context
Having begun at 7:1 to answer questions raised in a letter from the Corinthian congregation, Paul now turns to the question “concerning food sacrificed to idols.”

Key Words
V. 1. hē gnōsis physioi, hē de agapē oikodomei = “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”: Paul is contrasting knowledge and love on the grounds that the former leads to individual pride, but the latter builds community. In 14:4 he will use a similar contrast between speaking in tongues and prophesying.

V. 3. ei de tis agapa ton theon, houtos egnōstai = “”but anyone who loves God is known by him”: Paul is not simply writing about a reciprocal relationship between believer and God (a Gnostic teaching) but about the Hebrew understanding of divine election (see Num. 16:5), a thought that appears also at 2 Tim. 2:19.

V. 5. hōsper eisin theoi polloi kai kyrioi polloi = “as in fact there are many gods and many lords”: Paul’s belief that other gods and lords (and spirits) exist is consistent with some of his writings elsewhere (Rom. 8:38; Gal. 4:8-9) and with the gospel stories about the ministry of Jesus. Strikingly, Satan and his armies of spirits have “authority” (exousian) in their own spheres of influence and in their own time (see the Temptation story at Luke 4:6 and the account of Jesus’ arrest at Luke 22:53). Having been conquered by Jesus Christ, however, they have no power and are “weak and beggarly” (Gal. 4:9).

V. 6. “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist”: The style seems to represent a creed or a hymn that Paul might be quoting here (cf. Col. 1:15-20). This is the Christian claim that the one God is revealed in Jesus Christ and that creation and redemption come together in this one God (a teaching introduced in Second Isaiah).

V. 9. “Take care that this liberty (exousia) of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block (proskomma) to the weak”: the more common word for “stumbling block” in the LXX is skandalon, a word which Paul pairs with proskomma at Rom. 14:13 (see Exod. 23:33 for proskomma). Note that exousia here has the meaning “freedom.”

V. 11. ho adelphos di’ hon Chistos apethanen = “the brother (or sister) for whom Christ died”: the death of Christ for our sins is the supreme act of divine love, as is clear from the use of the aorist tense in such passages as John 15:12: “that you love one another, as I have loved (ēgapēsa) you.”

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Mark 1:21-28
On the basis of his teaching and exorcising, Jesus is revealed as the one who, with the authority of God, brings chaos under control, as was expected on the Day of the Lord.

Parallel passage at Luke 4:31-37

Context
Following his baptism by John and his temptation by Satan, Jesus began his preaching ministry in Galilee (1:14-15) and called to be his disciples two sets of brothers:  (1) Simon and Andrew and (2) James and John (1:16-20). Now Jesus continues to demonstrate the signs that “the kingdom of God has come near.”

Key Words
V. 21. Capernaum: A town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. According to Mark 2:1, Capernaum was Jesus’ home, as also seems to be true for Peter and Andrew (Matt. 8:14 and parallels). The synagogue there was the scene of several events in Jesus’ ministry in addition to this one; see Matt. 8:5-13; John 6:16-59.

V. 22. kai exeplēssonto epi tē didachē autou hēn gar didaskōn autous hōs exousian echōn kai ouch hōs hoi grammateis = “and they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes”: While the scribes were authorities on the law, they did not have authority. They were interpreters or expositors of the word of God; they did not proclaim the word like prophets. The response occurs at the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28-29). The only differences are the specific subject “the crowds” and the possessive “their” scribes at the end. The wording is somewhat abbreviated in Luke’s version of the crowd’s astonishment (Luke 4:32).

V. 23. euthus … anthrōpos en pneumatic akathartō = “immediately … a man with an unclean spirit”: At Mark 3:23-26 Jesus equates the unclean spirits with Satan (and Beelzebul) as one enemy he must conquer. Note the urgency conveyed by the world “immediately.”

V. 24 ti hēmin kai soi = Lit. “what to us and to you”: The expression is a common one when a person (or spirit) is confronted by a person who threatens them; see 1 Kings 17:18; Mark 5:7; the use by Jesus to his mother at John 2:4 is surprising indeed.

V. 25.  epetimēsen autō = “he rebuked him”:  A technical term for putting chaos in its place, that is, controlling its rage against the orderly reign of God.  In the OT, YHWH rebukes the primordial waters (Ps. 104:5-9; Nahum 1:3-5; Ps. 18:15; Isa. 50:2), the armies attacking Jerusalem (Ps. 76:6; Isa. 17:13), the oppressors of the poor (Ps. 9:5), and Satan himself (Zech. 3:1-2). God’s rebuke of the sea monster Leviathan will prove to be the eschatological victory that ushers in God’s kingdom (Isa. 27:1). Jesus rebukes the unclean spirits (here and at 3:12), the raging sea (4:39), and Peter when he plays the role of Satan (8:33)–all agents of the chaos that must be brought under control.  For a fuller discussion see Foster McCurley, Ancient Myths and Biblical Faith (Fortress, 1983, reprint 2007: 11-71)

V. 27. didachē kainē kat exousian = “a new teaching with authority”: Ancient manuscripts differ on how the phrases should be divided, but the point nevertheless is that Jesus’ teaching carries a power that brings to submission the armies of Satan.

V. 27. kat exousian kai tois pneumatic tois akathartois epitassei kai hypakouousin autō = “With authority he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him”: That the unclean spirits “obey” the commands of Jesus connects with the teaching of the first lesson in which the people will obey the words/commands of the prophet like Moses. Further, Jesus’ extends this authority to cast out demons to the apostles, giving them his authority (exousian) to defeat chaos (see Matt. 10:1)

Wrestling with the Word, episode 5: Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B (Jan. 25, 2009) January 9, 2009

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Third Sunday after Epiphany

Episode 5 discusses the biblical passages assigned in the Revised Common Lectionary for January 25, 2009. In Mark 1:14-20 Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee by announcing the nearness of the promised kingdom of God and then immediately begins to gather the new community of the kingdom by calling disciples. In 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, the apostle Paul writes to the relatively new Christian congregation his opinions on marital status in light of the brief time that is available before Christ comes again to end the worldly structures as we know them, including marriage. God’s desire to forgive sinners and give them new opportunities for living occurs in the story of Jonah who reluctantly preaches God’s word to the hated Assyrians and thereby brings about their repentance and their deliverance. Psalm 62 describes a worshiper’s plight at the hands of others, the instruction of the psalmist regarding the use of worldly power, and the intervention of God to announce the faithful sufferer’s rescue.

Download or listen to Wrestling with the Word, episode 5: Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B.

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Jonah 3:1-5, 10
In spite of the reputation of the people of Nineveh and contrary to the desires of Jonah, God refrained from destroying the city because of their repentance.

Context
The story of Jonah is difficult to date, although the focus on Nineveh forces us to see the author at work anywhere from the mid-eighth century B.C. onwards. The book is an extended parable about the grace of God.  As a result, one should preach on the entirety of the story.

Key Words
V. 2.  Nineveh:  The seat of the Assyrian Empire (8th to 7th centuries B.C.), it was the home of the king (see 2 Kings 19:36).  Nahum (1:1; 2:8; 3:7) and Zephaniah (2:13) promise God’s wrath for the Assyrians’ ruthless treatment of foes.

V. 5.  wayyiqre‘û-tsôm = “and they proclaimed a fast”:  a means of preventing certain destruction; see 2 Chron. 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Jer. 36:9.  wayyilbešû saqqîm = “and they put on sackcloth”:  a symbol of grieving (Esther 4:1; Lam. 2:10).

V. 10.  kî-šābû middarkām hārā‘ = “that they turned from their wicked way”:  their repentance became a byword in the NT: see Matt. 12:40-41; Luke 11:30.

V. 10.  wayyinnāchem hā’elōhîm `al-hārā‘â = “God repented concerning the harm”:  for other cases in which God reverses a decision to bring judgment see Exod. 32: 14; 2 Sam. 24:16; Amos 7:3, 6.

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Psalm 62:5-12
The first four verses of the psalm portray a person in dire straits, leaning like a wall ready to topple. People who pretend to be friends but who in fact are his adversaries torment the psalmist. Our verses communicate a quiet resolve the psalmist experiences when he focuses on God, his rock and his refuge. Be careful not to make a distinction in v. 13 between “God has spoken once” and “twice have I heard it”:  the “one thing” and “two things” make up a synonymous parallelism; see the numerical parallelisms at Prov. 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 29-31.

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1 Corinthians 7:29-31
In light of the passing of the present age and Paul’s belief in the nearness of the appointed time, through Paul, God admonishes the Christians to live “as though” they were free of worldly sorrows and joys.

Context

Starting at 7:1 and continuing into chapter 16, Paul addresses the questions raised in a letter from the Corinthian congregation. To this point in the chapter, he wrote about behavior in marriage (vss. 1-11), marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian (vss. 12-16), circumcision (vss. 17-20), and slavery and freedom (vss. 21-24). In the paragraph beginning at vs. 25, Paul expresses his “opinion” about maintaining one’s marital status in light of the “impending crisis” (vs. 26; see Rom. 7:2 about change in the marriage relationship through death).

Key Words

Vs. 29. ho kairos synestalmenos estin = “the appointed time has grown short”: Paul speaks of the shortening of the time until the end at Rom. 13:11-12. This coming kairotic moment provides for Paul an ethic for the eschaton.

Vss. 29-31. hōs mē = “as though”: Paul instructs not a change in status but a perspective based on the view that, in the kingdom to come, the issues that concern us now will become irrelevant.

Vs. 31. paragei gar to schēma tou kosmou toutou = “for the present form of this world is passing away”: the social structure and patterns of this world have no permanence (see also 1 John 2:17).

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Mark 1:14-20
As Jesus preaches the nearness of the new expected time, he calls into being a new community of persons who will leave all to follow him.

Context
Mark has introduced the reader to John the Baptist and his preaching (1:2-8 ) and then to Jesus who was baptized by John and declared by God to be God’s Son (1:9-11).  Following the baptism and the announcement of Jesus’ identity, Mark records his brief account of the temptation by Satan in the wilderness.  Now begins the account of the earthly ministry of “Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Key Words
V. 14.  to euaggelion tou theou = “the gospel of God”:  the content of God’s gospel is the fulfilling of time and the beginning of the coming Reign of God; at Rom. 1:2-3 “the gospel of God” has more specifically to do with Jesus himself.  At Rom. 15:16 and 1 Thess. 2:2, 8 the message about Christ seems to be the gospel’s content, and at 1 Pet. 4:17 something to be obeyed.

V. 15.  ēggiken hē basileia tou theou = “the kingdom of God is at hand”:  “the Day of the Lord” when God would eliminate all forces that oppose his orderly Reign.  Thus the day that “is at hand” is sometimes a day of punishment (see Mic. 7:4) or of judgment (Zeph. 1:7). Paul used the expression to call Christians to act appropriate to the Day (Rom. 13:12; Phil. 4:5), and so did James (4:7).

V. 15.  metanoeite = “repent”:  in light of its significant position in Mark’s Gospel, it is striking that the word appears only one other time (6:12), but there it is the content of the preaching of the 12 apostles. Apart from the initial preaching of John and Jesus, Matthew uses the word only in the negative, i.e., people did not repent (11:20; 21:32). Luke uses it in a more instructive way (13:3; 17:4).

Vv. 18, 20. euthus = “immediately”: Mark uses the term in 34 verses. The two occurrences here are already the 3rd and 4th in the chapter. See 1:10 where the heavens opened immediately after Jesus emerged from the water and 1:12 where after Jesus’ baptism the Spirit “immediately” drive him into the wilderness. Obviously a sense of urgency fills Mark’s Gospel.

Wrestling with the Word, episode 4: Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year B (Jan. 18, 2009) January 4, 2009

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Second Sunday after Epiphany

Episode 4 of the Wrestling with the Word podcast discusses the biblical passages assigned in the Revised Common Lectionary for January 18, 2009. The Gospel from John 1:43-51 continues Jesus’ call of disciples, first Philip and then Nathaniel. Based on Jesus’ calling him “truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” Nathaniel confesses that Jesus is Son of God and King of Israel. The disciple’s realization of Jesus’ divinity might be related to Psalm 139 in which the psalmist speaks of God as one who is everywhere and who knows everything. The “epiphany moment” occurs at the end of this passage where Jesus promises to Nathaniel a vision about where and how God connects with humanity. The first lesson from 1 Sam 3 reports not merely the growth in stature of the young Samuel but, above all, the faithfulness of God in coming to people in the divine word. In the second lesson from 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul addresses the role and use of our human bodies to glorify God who bought our freedom at a high cost.

Download or listen to Wrestling with the Word, episode 4: Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year B.

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1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
When the word of God is rare in the land, God raises up a prophet through whom the Lord speaks.

Context
1 Samuel 1 reports the birth of Samuel to the barren Hannah.  As a response to the Lord’s gift, Hannah gave the child (after weaning him)to the priest Eli at the temple at Shiloh.  There the boy ministered to the Lord (2:11, 18 ) while the sons of Eli themselves are described as sinful. An unknown man of God prophesied God’s judgment upon the priestly house of Eli for the sins of the sons and the raising up of a faithful priest to go in and out before the Lord’s anointed (2:27-36).

Key Words
V. 1.  ûdebar-YHWH hāyâ yāqār = “and the word of God was rare”:  the word yāqār usually refers to “precious” stones  (Isa. 13:12; Zech. 14:6)..

V. 3.  “where the ark of God was”:  the presence of the ark indicates the temple at Shiloh was the primary sanctuary for the tribal organization prior to the transport of the ark to Jerusalem via Kiriath-jearim (2 Sam.6).

Vv. 4, 10. “Samuel! Samuel!”:  God sometimes uses the double address with the purpose of a call; see also Exod. 3:4.

V. 13.  kî-meqallîm lāhem (probably read ‘elōhîm) banāw = “for his sons curse for themselves” (probably “God”):  the law expressly forbids cursing God (Exod. 22:28 ) and prescribes the punishment for such cursing and for blaspheming the Name as death (Lev. 24:13-16).

V. 19.  waYHWH hāyâ `immô = “and the Lord was with him”:  used of certain individuals to indicate their lives and their work prospered through the presence of God:  see Gen. 39:3, 23 (Joseph); 1 Sam. 18:12, 14 (David); 2 Kings 18:7 (Hezekiah); 1 Chron. 9:20 (Phineas).

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Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
Combining elements of a hymn and a prayer, the psalm creates an atmosphere of trust and awe as the worshiper ponders the omnipresence of God. Aware that God has been intimately involved in his entire life, even from the time he was in the womb, the worshiper reflects on the unfathomable nature of God, on God’s ability to see into and beyond a person’s exterior, and on God’s knowledge of the inner workings of all creation. Since the multitude of God’s thoughts is without number, the worshiper realizes God’s awesomeness as he submits to a divine trial for his innocence. For similar themes in the psalms, see  Psalm 7:5-9; 17:3; 26:2; 44:21 and Jer 12:1-4. Nathaniel must have had this divine wisdom and insight in mind when Jesus identified as a true Israelite without guile.

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1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Having bought us at a high price, God calls us not to defile our bodies but to regard them as temples of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God now and in the time to come.

Context
The pericope brings to an end the first part of the epistle that has been dealing with disorders in the Christian community at Corinth since 1:10. Paul first dealt with factions within the church and Christian wisdom (1:10–4:21), then with the incestuous man and sexual sins (5:1-13), and litigation in pagan courts (6:1-11).

Key Words
V. 15. pornos melē = “members of a prostitute”: Corinth was often called the city of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality. It is assumed that reverence for her involved a cult of prostitutes. Whether religious or not, the prevalent life style in the city led to the coining of new words and expressions: “to corinthize” or “to go Corinth” described a wild and loose life, and “a Corinth girl” was a euphemism for a prostitute.

V. 16. “The two shall become one flesh”: direct quotation of Genesis 2:24 where the first couple’s intimacy establishes their marital commitment to each other (“clings”). See the use of the same passage at Matt. 19:5; Mark 7:8; Eph. 5:31.

V. 20. doxasate dē ton theon en tō sōmati hymōn = “So glorify God in your bodies”: the emphasis on incarnational involvement in the world as the means to glorify God will become a critical theme in Paul’s later letter to the Romans (see Romans 12:1).

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John 1:43-51
In response to Nathaniel’s confession that Jesus is Son of God and King of Israel, Jesus announces his identity as the one in whom the divine and the earthly connect.

Context
In and following the Prologue to John’s Gospel (1:1-18 ) we were introduced to John the Baptist.  There follows the calling of Andrew and his brother Simon Peter whom Jesus has just named Cephas (1:35-42).

Key Words
V. 46.  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  The town is not mentioned in the Old Testament, in Josephus‘ writings, or in the writings of the rabbis.  In the time of Jesus, the town occupied a total of 40,000 square meters with a population of about two thousand .

V. 47. dolos = “guile”:  word appears as “guile” at 2 Cor. 12:16; 1 Thess. 2:3; 1 Peter 2:1, 22; 3:10; “stealth” (Matt. 26:4 = Mark 14:1), “deceit” (Mark 7:22; Acts 13:10; Rom. 1:29), and as “lie” (Rev. 14:5).  At 1 Peter 2:22 it is a characteristic inappropriate for a Christian (2:22).

V. 51.  ton ouranon aneōgota = “the heaven opened”:  as a prelude to a vision see Mark 1:10 (to Jesus); Acts 7:56 (to Stephen); 10:11 (to Peter); Rev. 19:11 (to John the Seer).

V. 51.  kai tous aggelous tou theou anabainontas kai katabainontas = “the angels of God ascending and descending”:  cf. Gen. 28:12.   The location at which such travel occurs is usually regarded as the “navel of the earth,” that is, the place where heaven and earth connect. Here Bethel (Gen. 28:12) and Jerusalem (Ezek. 38:12) are desacralized in favor of Jesus.

V. 51.  epi ton huion tou anthropou = “on the Son of man”:  in John’s Gospel the title is an exalted one (see 3:13, 14; 5:27; 6:27, 53, 62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23; 13:31, not the despised one as at Mark 8:31 and elsewhere.