Monday, June 30, 2008
July 6th | PENTECOST EIGHT
July 3, 2008 | PENTECOST 8
Judges 6:36-40 Psalm 136:1-4, 23-26 (1)
Ephesians 4:11-16 | John 14:1-7
============================================================
EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
July 6, 2008 (Lectionary 14)
Complementary Series:
Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-14 (8)
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Semicontinuous Series:
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:10-17 (7) or Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (10)
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
1a. CONTEXT - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
The LBW lectionary (Pentecost XI) treated verses 25-30 as the full pericope. In the newer ELW lectionary, however, verses 16-19 round out this text in a way both undergirds and introduces the longer section. The naïve ignorance of the children playing in the marketplace is obviously a clear analog for the fickle treatment received by the Son of Man. Thus is the “messianic secret” of Jesus both reinforced and challenged here. Matthew 11:25-30 is also parallel to Luke 10:21-22, although they are
found in somewhat different contexts. In Luke the pericope immediately
follows the return of the seventy from their apostolic mission. In Matthew the question to Jesus from John in prison (11:3) precedes the pericope. Actually, the general context of both is quite similar. Although the setting in Luke suggests viewing this passage as a thanksgiving for the successful mission, the Lucan context also includes woes and threats of judgment (10:13-15) parallel to Matthew (11:20-24). Also, the complete
context of Matthew includes the commissioning of the twelve (10:5-42), much of which is parallel to the commissioning ofthe seventy in Luke (10:1-20). In Matthew, the
specific context is a general upbraiding of the Galilean people for their weak response to the words and deeds of Jesus, for their lack of repentance, and for their shallow or even non-existent discipleship. The "condemned" are then contrasted with the "accepted."
The best known verses of this pericope, vv. 28-30, are unique to
Matthew's gospel. Apparently, as commentators concur, Mt. 11:25-27 and
its Lucan parallel come from the common source (Q) which both
evangelists share. Is Mt. 11:28-30 also from Q or from an independent
source? Although a few have suggested that Luke dropped vv. 28-30, Hans
Dieter Betz, in his survey of this issue, persuasively argues that these
verses are independent from Q. He does not agree with D.F. Strauss and E.
Norden that the entire pericope, 11:25-30, may derive from Wisdom
literature, such as Sirach 51 [Sirach 51 being divided into three parts
(1-12, 13-22, and 23-30) corresponding to the three divisions of the
Matthew pericope (25-26, 27, 28-30) ]. (cf. also M.J. Suggs, WISDOM,
CHRISTOLOGY AND LAW IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, pp. 99-108). Betz notes the
apparent independence of vv. 28-30, since they are almost parallel to
logion 90 in the Gospel of Thomas (Betz, p. 19), which is not associated
with Mt. 11:25-27. That this pericope has some association with Wisdom
literature, even Gnostic literature, does not necessitate that it is derivative,
dependent upon other sources and then ascribed to Jesus (cf.
Dunn, James D.G., pp. 199-200).
1b. TEXT: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
ESV:
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” [1]
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. [2]
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
[1] 11:19 Some manuscripts children (compare Luke 7:35)
[2] 11:26 Or for so it pleased you well
( FROM: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/ )
GREEK:
16τινι δε ομοιωσω την γενεαν ταυτην; ομοια εστιν παιδιοις καθημενοις εν ταις αγοραις α προσφωνουντα τοις ετεροις
17λεγουσιν, ηυλησαμεν υμιν και ουκ ωρχησασθε: εθρηνησαμεν και ουκ εκοψασθε.
18ηλθεν γαρ ιωαννης μητε εσθιων μητε πινων, και λεγουσιν, δαιμονιον εχει:
19ηλθεν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εσθιων και πινων, και λεγουσιν, ιδου ανθρωπος φαγος και οινοποτης, τελωνων φιλος και αμαρτωλων. και εδικαιωθη η σοφια απο των εργων αυτης.
25 εν εκεινω τω καιρω αποκριθεις ο ιησους ειπεν, εξομολογουμαι σοι, πατερ, κυριε του ουρανου και της γης, οτι εκρυψας ταυτα απο σοφων και συνετων και απεκαλυψας αυτα νηπιοις: 26 ναι, ο πατηρ, οτι ουτως ευδοκια εγενετο εμπροσθεν σου.
27 παντα μοι παρεδοθη υπο του πατρος μου, και ουδεις επιγινωσκει τον υιον ει μη ο πατηρ, ουδε τον πατερα τις επιγινωσκει ει μη ο υιος και ω εαν βουληται ο υιος αποκαλυψαι.
28 δευτε προς με παντες οι κοπιωντες και πεφορτισμενοι, καγω αναπαυσω υμας.
29 αρατε τον ζυγον μου εφ υμας και μαθετε απ εμου, οτι πραυς ειμι και ταπεινος τη καρδια, και ευρησετε αναπαυσιν ταις ψυχαις υμων:
30 ο γαρ ζυγος μου χρηστος και το φορτιον μου ελαφρον εστιν.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 26th edition
© 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
The Greek New Testament, 3rd edition
© 1975, United Bible Societies, London
2. ANALYSIS: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Matthew 11:25 - (en ekeino to kairo) - ("At that time") is a connecting
phrase (Kingsbury, p. 6), a "literary seam" (McKenzie, JBC 43:2), which is
chronologically unspecific, but which relates the subsequent verses to the
preceding section (Carson, EBC, p. 274). (exomologoumai soi, pater....) - ("I
thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. . .") - Jeremias includes vv.
25-27 among the prayers of Jesus (Jeremias, p. 45ff.). It may have
originated with the language of berakah, a blessing or praising of God. The
verb (exomologoumai) basically means "to acknowledge." When used in
reference to sins, the verb then means "to confess," but when used in
reference to God, the meaning becomes "to praise" or "to give thanks." This
verse and its parallel in Luke are the only verses in the New Testament
where this verb is used with the meaning of giving thanks or praise.
Contrast this with 37 instances of the verb eucharisteo.
hoti ekrypsas tauta.... - Are the sophoi ("wise") and synetoi
("understanding" or "intelligent") specifically selected out and rejected by
God? Does Jesus refer specifically to the scribes and Pharisees? Is
education a hindrance to faith? Does Jesus say that God purposely hides
tauta ("these things" - i.e., the gospel of salvation) from the wise, while
mysteriously revealing them to the nepioi ("babes")? Or, are there certain
qualities attendant to the "wise" and to "babes" which allow one group to
see and understand the gospel while the other remains blind? Comparing
these words ofJesus with other biblical passages with a similar theme
(cf. Jer. 8:8-9; 9:23-24; Is. 29:14: ICor. 1:18-31; 2:6-8), it appears that the
wise and understanding are the "know-it-alls," the self-sufficient, who
perceive no need for God's grace; whereas, the babes are dependent and
acknowledge their need for God. Gerhard Kittel (TDNT, v. 4, p. 921)
associates the nepioi with the ptochoi, praies, astheneis, mikroi, paidia,
douloi, diakonoi, tapeinoi - (poor, meek, weak, little ones, children,
slaves, servants, humble). These people Kittel says, "whom the world does
not notice - children, the lowly, the disciples and the masses - bear
witness to Jesus. They acknowledge Him to the praise and glory of God
(Phil. 2:11). Flesh and blood did not reveal this to them, any more than to
Peter (Mt. 16:17), but God himself. To them is given understanding of the
mysteria (Mt. 13:11), tes basileias ton ouranon." (ibid.) "Because God so
wills it, because it corresponds to the nature of revelation, Jesus has not
garbed Himself in power, wealth, and wisdom. He is poor, mean and lowly,
and He comes to those who are themselves nepioi." (ibid.) Perhaps
intelligence does not preclude understanding that life is a gift, a
revelation, God's apocalypse for now.
3. STRATEGY: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
A preliminary decision is choosing which part of the text to focus
upon for preaching. Matthew 11:25-26 deal with the issue of
self-sufficient wisdom versus the dependent innocence of babes,
sophistication versus simplicity (cf. Mt. 21:16; Ps. 8:2). But lest we make
of this a "head-trip," let us remember that Matthew (Jesus, as well?) is
associating "babes" with those "who labor and are heavy laden." Albert
Barnes hears these words addressed to "the poor, the ignorant, and the
obscure; the teachable, the simple, the humble" (NOTES ON THE NEW
TESTAMENT, p. 123). Let's keep our thinking within the "theology of the
cross." Jesus prays to God, not for the impressively successful, not for
those wise in the ways of the world, who know how to "turn a buck" and
make someone else's loss their gain; but he prays for cross-carriers, for
those yoked with burdens, beaten by belligerent and bellicose brigadiers.
This is not self-congratulation time because we are God's beloved "babes."
It is appropriate that humble people of the Nicaraguan village called
Papaturro hear these words applying especially to them in their time and
place (Cardenal, pp. 9-16).
Another issue, which ties the first part with the second (vs.
27), is the issue of revelation. Is Jesus suggesting that the wisdom of
Jewish law and learning may be a hindrance, a stumbling-block, to
receiving God's revelation? Can our attachment to the ways of religion
darken and obscure the clear light of Christ, prohibiting us from perceiving
God's epiphany? Receiving God's revelation involves us in revolution,
repentance and transformation. Contemplate what happened to Peter after
Mt. 16:16-17.
The mystery of revelation directs us to the "revealed-One." We
move from the theme of revelation to relationship. Vs. 27 is spoken of as
"a synoptic thunderbolt from the Johannine sky" (Fuller, p. 222; cf. also
McKenzie, JBC 43:77). Unlike Jeremias (THE PRAYERS OF JESUS, p. 50),
who says that huios and pater are to be understood generically, I side with
those who hear Jesus speaking specifically of his own unique relationship
as Son of the Heavenly Father. So, certainly we are "wise" to confer with
John 1:18; 3:35; 5:19-27; 13:3; 17:1-5, but we need not conclude that St.
John has an "exclusive," a copyright or patent, on Father-Son language and
the vested authority of the Son. This theology is evident elsewhere (cf. Mt.
28:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:27), and has its roots in the Father-Son language of
the Old Testament, used analogously as a metaphor of God's relationship
with the children of Abraham (cf. Ps. 2:7; Hosea 11:1ff). But the
authoritative Sonship claim of Jesus goes beyond analogy and metaphor.
Jesus is THE Babe and THE revelation, contradicting the pious Jewish
claim that all revelation of God is in the Torah.
This may be an occasion to preach "relational" theology. God's
revelation is not merely factual, but personal (Carson, EBC, v. 8, p. 277).
Knowledge of the Father and Son, the knowledge of faith, is fundamentally
relational. The truth of the Christian faith is not more fact, but is
TROTH--God's promised fidelity proved true in Jesus. God's relationship
with us poor babes is proved true in his Son. In response we are true to
this divine relationship.
The third part, the invitation to the weary, vv. 28-30, is
particularly tempting for preaching. Beware of focusing exclusively on
v.28, lest the vessel (cf. Betz, p. 10) remain empty of meaning or the
content with which we fill it is unrelated to the context of Christ and
text. Even a fine sermon, such as "The Shadow And The Promise" by George
Hunsinger (SOJOURNERS, Oct. 1978, pp. 25-26), suffers this problem.
Beware of narrowly-focused, doctrinal spectacles, such as those worn by
Samuel Bacchiocchi, a Seventh-Day Adventist, who argues that the "rest"
referred to by Jesus is the messianic sabbath, a symbol of the messianic
age. Yet, his comments can help to expand the meaning of the text, rather
than restrict the meaning as he does. Beware of making the words overly
pious and sweetly religious, so that they become a passive, "comfortable
word" as in Cranmer's 1549 Prayer Book, or an invitation to sacramental
devotion as used by Zwingli in the communion context (Stanton,
EXPOSITORY TIMES). Yes, this is an invitation by the Savior to the Savior;
and yes, they are gentle words of assurance, but they are also paradoxical
words, speaking of the costly nature of discipleship. The yoke is easy, but
it is a yoke. The burden is light, but it is a burden.
Some of us naturally picture the Thorvaldsen statue of Jesus which
stands in the altar are of Our Lady's (vor Frue Kirke) in Copenhagen, the
very one which inspired Soren Kierkegaard with the inscribed words,
"Kommer til meg." (cf. S.K., TRAINING IN CHRISTIANITY). In concord with S.
Kierkegaard and in line with Lutheran theology, let us underscore the
paradoxical nature of this invitation. The Invitation is also an Imperative,
and it is filled with Ironic contrast. The irony is part of the relationship,
for this IS a relationship to which we are invited. The yoke is made for
two. You and I become yoke-fellows with Christ. This is "for better for
worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to
cherish, till death parts us." Except death won't part us from Christ.
The yoke of Christ is more than the yoke of the law (cf. Acts 15:10;
Mt. 12:1-14; 23:4). This is not a contrast between the Yoke of the Torah
(Law) and the Yoke of the Gospel (Grace), anymore than it is a contrast
between legalism and antinomianism, or harshness vs. humaneness.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets (Mt. 5:17-48; Jer.
31:33; Ez. 36:26; 1 Jn. 5:3-4); neither does he come to crush us with a yoke
of slavery (Is. 42:2-4; 53:2-5; Mt. 8:17). Jesus bears the burden--the
burden of the law, of sin and guilt, of poverty, hunger, oppression and
injustice. Jesus joins the meek and humble, the gentle and lowly of heart.
"What he enjoins, he gives (de Dietrich, p. 73). Jesus carries the yoke,
"fellowed" with us in our yoke-bearing called discipleship. There is an
"upside-downness" to this yoke-bearing, to the discipline of the disciples'
way.
Allegiance to the reign of God is neither libertinism nor slavery,
but true liberation. To take Jesus' yoke is to accept his Lordship over my
life and follow his Way (cf. Jer. 6:16). This is the Way that begins at
baptism, for all of us "babes," no matter what our age. Thus, the Early
Church used Mt. 11:28-30 in its catechesis as preparation for the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Field, p. 33f), sometimes in association with
Isaiah 55: 1ff. And those early Christians understood that taking the yoke
of Jesus means learning Jesus' way of life. This is the Way of salt and
light (Mt. 5:13-16), and by this Way are all yoked-people blessed (Mt.
5:1-12). Our yoke is the stole of servanthood, given us in the ordination of
our baptism, by the Suffering Servant himself.
4. REFERENCES: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
BACCHIOCCHI, SAMUELE. "Mt. 11:28-30 --Jesus' Rest and the Sabbath",
ANDREWS UNIVERSITY SEMINARY STUDIES, Autumn '84, v. 22,
No. 3, pp. 289-316.
Barnes, Albert. NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW AND MARK,
ed. Robert Frew. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1966.
Betz, Hans Dieter. "The Logion of the Easy Yoke and of Rest," JOURNAL OF
BIBLICAL LITERATURE, v. 86, March 1967, pp. 10-24.
Cardenal, Ernesto. THE GOSPEL IN SOLENTINAME, vol. 2. Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books, 1978.
Carson, D.A. EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, MATTHEW, vol. 8. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
De Dietrich, Suzanne. LAYMAN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, vol. 16. Richmond,
VA: John Knox Press, 1961.
Dunn, James D.G. CHRISTOLOGY IN THE MAKING. Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1980.
Field, Anne, O. S. B. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant
Books, 1978.
Fuller, Reginald. PREACHING THE NEW LECTIONARY: THE WORD OF GOD FOR
THE CHURCH TODAY. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1971-74.
Jeremias, Joachim, THE PRAYERS OF JESUS. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978.
Kierkegaard, Soren. TRAINING IN CHRISTIANITY. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1967.
Kingsbury, Jack Dean. PROCLAMATION COMMENTARIES: THE NEW
TESTAMENT WITNESSES FOR PREACHING - MATTHEW, ed.
Gerhard Krodel. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977.
Kittel, Gerhard. THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, vol. 4,
ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1967.
McKenzie, J.L. "The Gospel According to Saint Matthew," THE JEROME
BIBLICAL COMMENTARY, ch. 43, ed. R.E. Brown, J.A. Fitzmeyer
and R.O. Murphy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
Stanton, Graham N. "Salvation Proclaimed," EXPOSITORY TIMES, vol. 94,
Oct. '82, pp. 3-8.
Suggs, Jack M. WISDOM, CHRISTOLOGY, AND LAW IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.
5. WORSHIP SUGGESTIONS: Pentecost 8
I think of the SBH hymn #508, MAKE ME A CAPTIVE, LORD, AND THEN
I SHALL BE FREE, but WIDE OPEN ARE YOUR HANDS (LBW 489), also to the
Leominster tune, would suit well. You might consider planning in advance
and having the congregation learn FORTH IN THY NAME, O LORD, I GO (LBW
505) and/or PRAISE GOD. PRAISE HIM (LBW 529) if they haven't already.
Other possibilities to consider are:
AT THE NAME OF JESUS (LBW 179,HB 435)
COME TO CALVARY'S HOLY MOUNTAIN (LBW 301)
I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS (LBW 305)
LORD JESUS, THINK ON ME (LBW 309, HB 641)
JESUS, THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (LBW 316, HB 642)
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS (LBW 345,HB 644)
O CHRIST, THE HEALER, WE HAVE COME (LBW 360)
THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION (LBW 369,HB 525)
DAY BY DAY (HB 654)
O GOD OF MERCY, GOD OF LIGHT (LBW 425)
WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS (LBW 439)
THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD (LBW 451)
"COME, FOLLOW ME," THE SAVIOR SPAKE (LBW 455)
JESUS, PRICELESS TREASURE (LBW 457 or 458)
I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY (LBW 497)
COME, MY WAY, MY TRUTH, MY LIFE (LBW 513)
JESUS SHALL REIGN (LBW 530)
JOYFUL, JOYFUL WE ADORE THEE (LBW 551)
For Communion:
O LIVING BREAD FROM HEAVEN (LBW 197)
LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOU HAVE PREPARED (LBW 208)
COME, RISEN LORD (LBW 209)
COME, LET US EAT (LBW 214)
IN THE QUIET CONSECRATION (LBW 223)
For Baptism:
THIS IS THE SPIRIT'S ENTRY NOW (LBW 195)
Exegete: Glenn C. Petersen is Pastor of Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage Alaska
< http://www.centluth.org/ >
6. SEASIDE READING….The Olympics are Coming!
Whether or not you indulge yourself in the old custom of going to the beach ( or Lake Wobegon ) for the summer, you may enjoy taking some time out to read David Halberstam's remarkable 1985 book on rowing, THE AMATEURS (NY: Morrow). This "Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal" tells how four zealous rowers pursued their goal of rowing in the Olympics. It is a kind of parable of discipleship in that it presents in exquisite detail the almost fanatical commitment and rigorous sacrificial training experience by the four rowers as they move stroke by stroke to the book's inevitably decisive moment of truth. Rowing is a punishing, private world and yet one sees in this book on the "martyrdom"
of rowers why the early Christian martyrs were known as "athletos."
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Lexegete ™ © 2008
Tischrede Software
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
www.Yourobdtsvt.blogspot.com
____________________________________________________________________________________
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July 3, 2008 | PENTECOST 8
July 3, 2008 | PENTECOST 8
Judges 6:36-40 Psalm 136:1-4, 23-26 (1)
Ephesians 4:11-16 | John 14:1-7
EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
July 6, 2008 (Lectionary 14)
Complementary Series:
Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-14 (8)
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Semicontinuous Series:
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:10-17 (7) or Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (10)
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
1a. CONTEXT - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
The LBW lectionary (Pentecost XI) treated verses 25-30 as the full pericope. In the newer ELW lectionary, however, verses 16-19 round out this text in a way both undergirds and introduces the longer section. The naïve ignorance of the children playing in the marketplace is obviously a clear analog for the fickle treatment received by the Son of Man. Thus is the “messianic secret” of Jesus both reinforced and challenged here. Matthew 11:25-30 is also parallel to Luke 10:21-22, although they are
found in somewhat different contexts. In Luke the pericope immediately
follows the return of the seventy from their apostolic mission. In Matthew the question to Jesus from John in prison (11:3) precedes the pericope. Actually, the general context of both is quite similar. Although the setting in Luke suggests viewing this passage as a thanksgiving for the successful mission, the Lucan context also includes woes and threats of judgment (10:13-15) parallel to Matthew (11:20-24). Also, the complete
context of Matthew includes the commissioning of the twelve (10:5-42), much of which is parallel to the commissioning ofthe seventy in Luke (10:1-20). In Matthew, the
specific context is a general upbraiding of the Galilean people for their weak response to the words and deeds of Jesus, for their lack of repentance, and for their shallow or even non-existent discipleship. The "condemned" are then contrasted with the "accepted."
The best known verses of this pericope, vv. 28-30, are unique to
Matthew's gospel. Apparently, as commentators concur, Mt. 11:25-27 and
its Lucan parallel come from the common source (Q) which both
evangelists share. Is Mt. 11:28-30 also from Q or from an independent
source? Although a few have suggested that Luke dropped vv. 28-30, Hans
Dieter Betz, in his survey of this issue, persuasively argues that these
verses are independent from Q. He does not agree with D.F. Strauss and E.
Norden that the entire pericope, 11:25-30, may derive from Wisdom
literature, such as Sirach 51 [Sirach 51 being divided into three parts
(1-12, 13-22, and 23-30) corresponding to the three divisions of the
Matthew pericope (25-26, 27, 28-30) ]. (cf. also M.J. Suggs, WISDOM,
CHRISTOLOGY AND LAW IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, pp. 99-108). Betz notes the
apparent independence of vv. 28-30, since they are almost parallel to
logion 90 in the Gospel of Thomas (Betz, p. 19), which is not associated
with Mt. 11:25-27. That this pericope has some association with Wisdom
literature, even Gnostic literature, does not necessitate that it is derivative,
dependent upon other sources and then ascribed to Jesus (cf.
Dunn, James D.G., pp. 199-200).
1b. TEXT: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
ESV:
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” [1]
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. [2]
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
[1] 11:19 Some manuscripts children (compare Luke 7:35)
[2] 11:26 Or for so it pleased you well
( FROM: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/ )
GREEK:
16τινι δε ομοιωσω την γενεαν ταυτην; ομοια εστιν παιδιοις καθημενοις εν ταις αγοραις α προσφωνουντα τοις ετεροις
17λεγουσιν, ηυλησαμεν υμιν και ουκ ωρχησασθε: εθρηνησαμεν και ουκ εκοψασθε.
18ηλθεν γαρ ιωαννης μητε εσθιων μητε πινων, και λεγουσιν, δαιμονιον εχει:
19ηλθεν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εσθιων και πινων, και λεγουσιν, ιδου ανθρωπος φαγος και οινοποτης, τελωνων φιλος και αμαρτωλων. και εδικαιωθη η σοφια απο των εργων αυτης.
25 εν εκεινω τω καιρω αποκριθεις ο ιησους ειπεν, εξομολογουμαι σοι, πατερ, κυριε του ουρανου και της γης, οτι εκρυψας ταυτα απο σοφων και συνετων και απεκαλυψας αυτα νηπιοις: 26 ναι, ο πατηρ, οτι ουτως ευδοκια εγενετο εμπροσθεν σου.
27 παντα μοι παρεδοθη υπο του πατρος μου, και ουδεις επιγινωσκει τον υιον ει μη ο πατηρ, ουδε τον πατερα τις επιγινωσκει ει μη ο υιος και ω εαν βουληται ο υιος αποκαλυψαι.
28 δευτε προς με παντες οι κοπιωντες και πεφορτισμενοι, καγω αναπαυσω υμας.
29 αρατε τον ζυγον μου εφ υμας και μαθετε απ εμου, οτι πραυς ειμι και ταπεινος τη καρδια, και ευρησετε αναπαυσιν ταις ψυχαις υμων:
30 ο γαρ ζυγος μου χρηστος και το φορτιον μου ελαφρον εστιν.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 26th edition
© 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
The Greek New Testament, 3rd edition
© 1975, United Bible Societies, London
2. ANALYSIS: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Matthew 11:25 - (en ekeino to kairo) - ("At that time") is a connecting
phrase (Kingsbury, p. 6), a "literary seam" (McKenzie, JBC 43:2), which is
chronologically unspecific, but which relates the subsequent verses to the
preceding section (Carson, EBC, p. 274). (exomologoumai soi, pater....) - ("I
thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. . .") - Jeremias includes vv.
25-27 among the prayers of Jesus (Jeremias, p. 45ff.). It may have
originated with the language of berakah, a blessing or praising of God. The
verb (exomologoumai) basically means "to acknowledge." When used in
reference to sins, the verb then means "to confess," but when used in
reference to God, the meaning becomes "to praise" or "to give thanks." This
verse and its parallel in Luke are the only verses in the New Testament
where this verb is used with the meaning of giving thanks or praise.
Contrast this with 37 instances of the verb eucharisteo.
hoti ekrypsas tauta.... - Are the sophoi ("wise") and synetoi
("understanding" or "intelligent") specifically selected out and rejected by
God? Does Jesus refer specifically to the scribes and Pharisees? Is
education a hindrance to faith? Does Jesus say that God purposely hides
tauta ("these things" - i.e., the gospel of salvation) from the wise, while
mysteriously revealing them to the nepioi ("babes")? Or, are there certain
qualities attendant to the "wise" and to "babes" which allow one group to
see and understand the gospel while the other remains blind? Comparing
these words ofJesus with other biblical passages with a similar theme
(cf. Jer. 8:8-9; 9:23-24; Is. 29:14: ICor. 1:18-31; 2:6-8), it appears that the
wise and understanding are the "know-it-alls," the self-sufficient, who
perceive no need for God's grace; whereas, the babes are dependent and
acknowledge their need for God. Gerhard Kittel (TDNT, v. 4, p. 921)
associates the nepioi with the ptochoi, praies, astheneis, mikroi, paidia,
douloi, diakonoi, tapeinoi - (poor, meek, weak, little ones, children,
slaves, servants, humble). These people Kittel says, "whom the world does
not notice - children, the lowly, the disciples and the masses - bear
witness to Jesus. They acknowledge Him to the praise and glory of God
(Phil. 2:11). Flesh and blood did not reveal this to them, any more than to
Peter (Mt. 16:17), but God himself. To them is given understanding of the
mysteria (Mt. 13:11), tes basileias ton ouranon." (ibid.) "Because God so
wills it, because it corresponds to the nature of revelation, Jesus has not
garbed Himself in power, wealth, and wisdom. He is poor, mean and lowly,
and He comes to those who are themselves nepioi." (ibid.) Perhaps
intelligence does not preclude understanding that life is a gift, a
revelation, God's apocalypse for now.
3. STRATEGY: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
A preliminary decision is choosing which part of the text to focus
upon for preaching. Matthew 11:25-26 deal with the issue of
self-sufficient wisdom versus the dependent innocence of babes,
sophistication versus simplicity (cf. Mt. 21:16; Ps. 8:2). But lest we make
of this a "head-trip," let us remember that Matthew (Jesus, as well?) is
associating "babes" with those "who labor and are heavy laden." Albert
Barnes hears these words addressed to "the poor, the ignorant, and the
obscure; the teachable, the simple, the humble" (NOTES ON THE NEW
TESTAMENT, p. 123). Let's keep our thinking within the "theology of the
cross." Jesus prays to God, not for the impressively successful, not for
those wise in the ways of the world, who know how to "turn a buck" and
make someone else's loss their gain; but he prays for cross-carriers, for
those yoked with burdens, beaten by belligerent and bellicose brigadiers.
This is not self-congratulation time because we are God's beloved "babes."
It is appropriate that humble people of the Nicaraguan village called
Papaturro hear these words applying especially to them in their time and
place (Cardenal, pp. 9-16).
Another issue, which ties the first part with the second (vs.
27), is the issue of revelation. Is Jesus suggesting that the wisdom of
Jewish law and learning may be a hindrance, a stumbling-block, to
receiving God's revelation? Can our attachment to the ways of religion
darken and obscure the clear light of Christ, prohibiting us from perceiving
God's epiphany? Receiving God's revelation involves us in revolution,
repentance and transformation. Contemplate what happened to Peter after
Mt. 16:16-17.
The mystery of revelation directs us to the "revealed-One." We
move from the theme of revelation to relationship. Vs. 27 is spoken of as
"a synoptic thunderbolt from the Johannine sky" (Fuller, p. 222; cf. also
McKenzie, JBC 43:77). Unlike Jeremias (THE PRAYERS OF JESUS, p. 50),
who says that huios and pater are to be understood generically, I side with
those who hear Jesus speaking specifically of his own unique relationship
as Son of the Heavenly Father. So, certainly we are "wise" to confer with
John 1:18; 3:35; 5:19-27; 13:3; 17:1-5, but we need not conclude that St.
John has an "exclusive," a copyright or patent, on Father-Son language and
the vested authority of the Son. This theology is evident elsewhere (cf. Mt.
28:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:27), and has its roots in the Father-Son language of
the Old Testament, used analogously as a metaphor of God's relationship
with the children of Abraham (cf. Ps. 2:7; Hosea 11:1ff). But the
authoritative Sonship claim of Jesus goes beyond analogy and metaphor.
Jesus is THE Babe and THE revelation, contradicting the pious Jewish
claim that all revelation of God is in the Torah.
This may be an occasion to preach "relational" theology. God's
revelation is not merely factual, but personal (Carson, EBC, v. 8, p. 277).
Knowledge of the Father and Son, the knowledge of faith, is fundamentally
relational. The truth of the Christian faith is not more fact, but is
TROTH--God's promised fidelity proved true in Jesus. God's relationship
with us poor babes is proved true in his Son. In response we are true to
this divine relationship.
The third part, the invitation to the weary, vv. 28-30, is
particularly tempting for preaching. Beware of focusing exclusively on
v.28, lest the vessel (cf. Betz, p. 10) remain empty of meaning or the
content with which we fill it is unrelated to the context of Christ and
text. Even a fine sermon, such as "The Shadow And The Promise" by George
Hunsinger (SOJOURNERS, Oct. 1978, pp. 25-26), suffers this problem.
Beware of narrowly-focused, doctrinal spectacles, such as those worn by
Samuel Bacchiocchi, a Seventh-Day Adventist, who argues that the "rest"
referred to by Jesus is the messianic sabbath, a symbol of the messianic
age. Yet, his comments can help to expand the meaning of the text, rather
than restrict the meaning as he does. Beware of making the words overly
pious and sweetly religious, so that they become a passive, "comfortable
word" as in Cranmer's 1549 Prayer Book, or an invitation to sacramental
devotion as used by Zwingli in the communion context (Stanton,
EXPOSITORY TIMES). Yes, this is an invitation by the Savior to the Savior;
and yes, they are gentle words of assurance, but they are also paradoxical
words, speaking of the costly nature of discipleship. The yoke is easy, but
it is a yoke. The burden is light, but it is a burden.
Some of us naturally picture the Thorvaldsen statue of Jesus which
stands in the altar are of Our Lady's (vor Frue Kirke) in Copenhagen, the
very one which inspired Soren Kierkegaard with the inscribed words,
"Kommer til meg." (cf. S.K., TRAINING IN CHRISTIANITY). In concord with S.
Kierkegaard and in line with Lutheran theology, let us underscore the
paradoxical nature of this invitation. The Invitation is also an Imperative,
and it is filled with Ironic contrast. The irony is part of the relationship,
for this IS a relationship to which we are invited. The yoke is made for
two. You and I become yoke-fellows with Christ. This is "for better for
worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to
cherish, till death parts us." Except death won't part us from Christ.
The yoke of Christ is more than the yoke of the law (cf. Acts 15:10;
Mt. 12:1-14; 23:4). This is not a contrast between the Yoke of the Torah
(Law) and the Yoke of the Gospel (Grace), anymore than it is a contrast
between legalism and antinomianism, or harshness vs. humaneness.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets (Mt. 5:17-48; Jer.
31:33; Ez. 36:26; 1 Jn. 5:3-4); neither does he come to crush us with a yoke
of slavery (Is. 42:2-4; 53:2-5; Mt. 8:17). Jesus bears the burden--the
burden of the law, of sin and guilt, of poverty, hunger, oppression and
injustice. Jesus joins the meek and humble, the gentle and lowly of heart.
"What he enjoins, he gives (de Dietrich, p. 73). Jesus carries the yoke,
"fellowed" with us in our yoke-bearing called discipleship. There is an
"upside-downness" to this yoke-bearing, to the discipline of the disciples'
way.
Allegiance to the reign of God is neither libertinism nor slavery,
but true liberation. To take Jesus' yoke is to accept his Lordship over my
life and follow his Way (cf. Jer. 6:16). This is the Way that begins at
baptism, for all of us "babes," no matter what our age. Thus, the Early
Church used Mt. 11:28-30 in its catechesis as preparation for the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Field, p. 33f), sometimes in association with
Isaiah 55: 1ff. And those early Christians understood that taking the yoke
of Jesus means learning Jesus' way of life. This is the Way of salt and
light (Mt. 5:13-16), and by this Way are all yoked-people blessed (Mt.
5:1-12). Our yoke is the stole of servanthood, given us in the ordination of
our baptism, by the Suffering Servant himself.
4. REFERENCES: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
BACCHIOCCHI, SAMUELE. "Mt. 11:28-30 --Jesus' Rest and the Sabbath",
ANDREWS UNIVERSITY SEMINARY STUDIES, Autumn '84, v. 22,
No. 3, pp. 289-316.
Barnes, Albert. NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW AND MARK,
ed. Robert Frew. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1966.
Betz, Hans Dieter. "The Logion of the Easy Yoke and of Rest," JOURNAL OF
BIBLICAL LITERATURE, v. 86, March 1967, pp. 10-24.
Cardenal, Ernesto. THE GOSPEL IN SOLENTINAME, vol. 2. Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books, 1978.
Carson, D.A. EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, MATTHEW, vol. 8. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
De Dietrich, Suzanne. LAYMAN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, vol. 16. Richmond,
VA: John Knox Press, 1961.
Dunn, James D.G. CHRISTOLOGY IN THE MAKING. Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1980.
Field, Anne, O. S. B. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant
Books, 1978.
Fuller, Reginald. PREACHING THE NEW LECTIONARY: THE WORD OF GOD FOR
THE CHURCH TODAY. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1971-74.
Jeremias, Joachim, THE PRAYERS OF JESUS. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978.
Kierkegaard, Soren. TRAINING IN CHRISTIANITY. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1967.
Kingsbury, Jack Dean. PROCLAMATION COMMENTARIES: THE NEW
TESTAMENT WITNESSES FOR PREACHING - MATTHEW, ed.
Gerhard Krodel. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977.
Kittel, Gerhard. THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, vol. 4,
ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1967.
McKenzie, J.L. "The Gospel According to Saint Matthew," THE JEROME
BIBLICAL COMMENTARY, ch. 43, ed. R.E. Brown, J.A. Fitzmeyer
and R.O. Murphy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
Stanton, Graham N. "Salvation Proclaimed," EXPOSITORY TIMES, vol. 94,
Oct. '82, pp. 3-8.
Suggs, Jack M. WISDOM, CHRISTOLOGY, AND LAW IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.
5. WORSHIP SUGGESTIONS: Pentecost 8
I think of the SBH hymn #508, MAKE ME A CAPTIVE, LORD, AND THEN
I SHALL BE FREE, but WIDE OPEN ARE YOUR HANDS (LBW 489), also to the
Leominster tune, would suit well. You might consider planning in advance
and having the congregation learn FORTH IN THY NAME, O LORD, I GO (LBW
505) and/or PRAISE GOD. PRAISE HIM (LBW 529) if they haven't already.
Other possibilities to consider are:
AT THE NAME OF JESUS (LBW 179,HB 435)
COME TO CALVARY'S HOLY MOUNTAIN (LBW 301)
I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS (LBW 305)
LORD JESUS, THINK ON ME (LBW 309, HB 641)
JESUS, THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (LBW 316, HB 642)
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS (LBW 345,HB 644)
O CHRIST, THE HEALER, WE HAVE COME (LBW 360)
THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION (LBW 369,HB 525)
DAY BY DAY (HB 654)
O GOD OF MERCY, GOD OF LIGHT (LBW 425)
WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS (LBW 439)
THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD (LBW 451)
"COME, FOLLOW ME," THE SAVIOR SPAKE (LBW 455)
JESUS, PRICELESS TREASURE (LBW 457 or 458)
I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY (LBW 497)
COME, MY WAY, MY TRUTH, MY LIFE (LBW 513)
JESUS SHALL REIGN (LBW 530)
JOYFUL, JOYFUL WE ADORE THEE (LBW 551)
For Communion:
O LIVING BREAD FROM HEAVEN (LBW 197)
LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOU HAVE PREPARED (LBW 208)
COME, RISEN LORD (LBW 209)
COME, LET US EAT (LBW 214)
IN THE QUIET CONSECRATION (LBW 223)
For Baptism:
THIS IS THE SPIRIT'S ENTRY NOW (LBW 195)
Exegete: Glenn C. Petersen is Pastor of Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage Alaska < http://www.centluth.org/ >
6. SEASIDE READING….The Olympics are Coming!
Whether or not you indulge yourself in the old custom of going to the beach ( or Lake Wobegon ) for the summer, you may enjoy taking some time out to read David Halberstam's remarkable 1985 book on rowing, THE AMATEURS (NY: Morrow). This "Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal" tells how four zealous rowers pursued their goal of rowing in the Olympics. It is a kind of parable of discipleship in that it presents in exquisite detail the almost fanatical commitment and rigorous sacrificial training experience by the four rowers as they move stroke by stroke to the book's inevitably decisive moment of truth. Rowing is a punishing, private world and yet one sees in this book on the "martyrdom"
of rowers why the early Christian martyrs were known as "athletos."
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Lexegete ™ © 2008
Tischrede Software
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Monday, June 23, 2008
Lexegete June 29, 2008
Lexegete TM | Year A | Matthew
________________________________
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
June 29, 2008 (Lectionary 13)
Complementary Series
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 (1)
Romans 6:12-23
13. Matthew 10:40-42
Semicontinuous Series
Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13 (5)
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
1a. CONTEXT: Matthew 10:(34-39) 40-42
Today's text forms the conclusion of the second discourse in
Matthew, the commissioning of the disciples. Following last week's
Gospel, it begins with the strife to be expected by the followers of Jesus,
and concludes with the benefits to be expected by those who treat him and
his followers well. It is interesting to note that while Mark and Luke
report on the return of the followers after the sending out, Matthew
ignores it. This is probably not because Matthew thought the journey
unimportant or unsuccessful, but rather because the historical journey of
the twelve was not as important to Matthew as the implied commission to
all Christians.
The verses that make up this passage have some parallels in Luke
and some echoes in Mark and John. Matthew's editing ofthe various sayings
is unique. The notion that family strife (10:34-37, and Lk 12:51-53, and
Lk 14:26) was a sign of the end times was traditional (Micah 7:6). Jesus
modified the tradition by stating that the Messiah himself would cause the
family strife, rather than having the Messiah be the one to end the strife.
Family ties were extremely important, but Jesus represented something
even more important. In Matthew's day, people, both Jewish and Gentile,
were experienceing family rifts because of Jesus. (Beare, THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO MATTHEW, p. 249).
Matthew 10:38 and 39 have parallels in all the Gospels. The notion
that following Jesus entailed suffering and sacrifice was held commonly.
That Matthew chose to put the sayings about the cross-bearing and
following, and life-losing and gaining, between predictions of family
strife and directions about receiving followers of Jesus is interesting
here. The passage ends with directions about hospitality towards
Christians. Again, its was traditional to give an emissary the same
hospitality that one would give to the one the emissary represented.
1b. TEXT: Matthew 10:40-42
(ESV)
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
GREEK:
40ο δεχομενος υμας εμε δεχεται, και ο εμε δεχομενος δεχεται τον αποστειλαντα με.
41ο δεχομενος προφητην εις ονομα προφητου μισθον προφητου λημψεται, και ο δεχομενος δικαιον εις ονομα δικαιου μισθον δικαιου λημψεται.
42και ος αν ποτιση ενα των μικρων τουτων ποτηριον ψυχρου μονον εις ονομα μαθητου, αμην λεγω υμιν, ου μη απολεση τον μισθον αυτου.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 26th edition © 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
The Greek New Testament, 3rd edition © 1975, United Bible Societies, London.
2. ANALYSIS: Matthew 10:34-42
Matthew 10:34 - " I have not come to bring peace(eirenen) , but a sword(
machairan)." - While some may expect the coming of the Messiah to end
strife, Jesus engenders it, particularly among families. Luke 12:51 uses
"division" instead of "sword." Albright and Mann (ANCHOR BIBLE, p. 129)
focusing on Jesus' response to the expectations put upon him, translate
Matthew, "I have come neither to impose peace, nor yet to make war."
10:37 - "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me."
- The "hate" in Luke 14:26 is less strong in Greek than in English. (Beare,
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW, p. 250). Matthew's emphasis is on
loyalty to Jesus; Luke's is more on the cost of the loyalty. "worthy of me,"
(mou aksios) used three times in 10:37-38 is typical of Matthew. Note
that Luke uses "be my disciple."
10:38 - "and he who does not take his cross and follow me.." - Some form
of this saying exists in all 3 synoptics. Note that here and in the parallel
form (LK 14:27) the negative is used. Mt. 16:24, Mk 8:34, and Lk 9:23 are
positive forms. This is Matthew's first use of the cross and is significant
because of it. (Fenton, SAINT MATTHEW, p. 165) Although it is possible
that Jesus' disciples had to face the thought of their own crucifixion
within Jesus' lifetime (Albright and Mann, p. 132), it is clear that Matthew
is again speaking to his own community here.
10:39 - "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my
sake will find it." - This saying, too, has multiple parallels: Lk 17:33 (the
closest), Mt. 16:25, Mk 8:35, Lk 9:24, and Jn 12:25. In Greek, the find
life/lose life dichotomy does not imply "live or die," though Matthew's
placement of it right after the cross-bearing section tempts one. "Lose" (
apoluo) here has the sense of "let go" or "be liberated," which does not
necessarily imply literal death. "Psyche" here is another difficult word.
Although the RSV translates it "life," soul or self is probably better. Note
that Luke 17:33 omits "for my sake."
10:41 - "He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward..." - This verse has no parallels and is cause for
confusion. Albright and Mann suggest tht both "Prophet" and "Righteous
one" refer to Jesus himself (p. 133), although most commentators assume
that they refer to classes of early Christians. "eis onoma" means literally,
"in the name of." The reward of the one who receives the prophet or
righteous one will be the same as that one's. There's a commutative
principle at work here.
10:42 - "these little ones" (ton mikron) is a phrase Matthew often uses of
the disciples.
3. STRATEGY: Matthew 10:34-42
Today's text concludes Matthew's commission of the disciples,
without indicating that they ever did what they were asked. (Contrast
Mark 6:12 and Luke 9:6.) And so, without casting aspersions on the
disciples, the preacher could focus the sermon on "The Unfinished
Commission," or "The Unfinished Agenda." Myths and fairy tales often tell
of a group of people with an expectation that can only be filled by the right
person--he must slay the dragon; she must answer the riddle. Jewish
society expected a Messiah. Jesus came as the fulfillment of that
society's expectation (whether they knew it or not) and turned the tables.
In fulfilling the expectation that the society has for him, he has set up an
expectation in turn for the society itself to fulfill. Matthew, Mark and
Luke all have Jesus stating his expectations to the disciples. But in
leaving the commissioning open-ended, Matthew also invites his readers to
include themselves in the expectation.
So how do we respond to the unfinished commission? How
literally do we take it? How much do we tailor it to suit our needs and
wishes? If we look to this passage to give us guidance on our commission,
we learn, first, that following Christ can call into question the things we
hold most dear, namely our family relationships. Material things are not
even mentioned here--it is assumed we are beyond these. But family
harmony is not only God-given, it is God-mandated. However, our
commission takes precedence over our obligations to maintain even as
religiously defensible a thing as family peace. Should your church happen
to schedule a baptism this Sunday, it is interesting to note that Luke's
parallel passage is preceded with a violent baptismal reference. "I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is
accomplished!" (Lk 12:50) Baptism is too often perceived as a living
Hallmark card. To remind the congregation that baptism is more than just
a photo opportunity/family gathering is in keeping with the passage.
We also learn that the unfinished commission turns our lives
and expectations upside down. William Blake's poem, "Eternity," reflects
the sense of losing and gaining being switched:
"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise."
Holding on and letting go are reversed in this paradox. The suffering that we all experience is not an end in itself. It is part of a process. The point is not simply to lug a cross around; it is to take up one's cross AND to follow.
Finally, we learn that there will be solidarity in this process, that
by joining the unfinished commission we join others. Verses 40-42 tell of
a solidarity among Christians, a connection that is the body of Christ. The
passage which began so violently, with the bursting in of the sword, ends
ever so gently, with a cup of water for the "little ones." If sentimentality
about family is smashed earlier, we learn here that the commission is not
loveless or heartless. Loyalty is redefined; love is reaffirmed.
4. REFERENCES
Albright, W.F., and Mann, C.S. THE ANCHOR BIBLE: MATTHEW. Garden City:
New York: Doubleday & Co., 1971.
Beare, F.W. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
Blake, William. "Eternity," in THE POETRY AND PROSE OF WILLIAM BLAKE, edited
by David Erdman. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1970.
Fenton, J.C. SAINT MATTHEW. Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1963.
5. WORSHIP SUGGESTIONS
O GOD OF EARTH AND ALTAR (LBW 428) would make an appropriate
first hymn, opening the service with a statement of some of the ills in the
world. WHERE RESTLESS CROWDS ARE THRONGING (LBW 430) has the same
theme, with the refrain, "You, O Christ, are there." A sermon hymn might
well emphasize the solidarity of believers engaged in the commission,
such as BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS (LBW 370). I BIND UNTO MYSELF
TODAY (LBW 188, although the Episcopal version is vastly better, being
complete, cf. ELW 450) would also be a fine choice, emphasizing the connection
between baptism and the commitment to the commission. Other baptismal
hymns might also be appropriate. THROUGH THE NIGHT OF DOUBT AND
SORROW (LBW 355, ELW 327) would end the service appropriately on the theme of
pilgrimage. THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION (LBW 369, ELW 654) would also go well at the end.
If the unfinished commission is the theme of the day, one might well incorporate it into the intercessory prayers and passing of the peace. This might also be an appropriate time for baptism or the affirmation of baptism in the incorporation of new members. We are all engaged in the unfinished commission. We have joined in media res. To witness others joining in media res today emphasizes the nature of the common pilgrimage.
Exegete: Rev. Jessica Crist
Bishop, Montana Synod / ELCA
http://www.montanasynod.org/leaders.html
or Peter and Paul, Apostles may be observed:
Lexegete ™ | Year A | Matthew
PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES - LINKS
June 29, 2008
Acts 12:1-11
Psalm 87:1-3, 5-7 (3)
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
John 21:15-19
Note: The Peter & Paul pericope is noted by Luther in his essay
“On the War Against the Turk,” (1529, trans. Jacobs) in the new boxed set of Luther’s Selected Writings, found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=cHvf_xp6V8IC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Luther+on++John+21:15-19&source=web&ots=4jbwkNqNRz&sig=7mUlaU5D4GOraZrZQwKew1xksLQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPP1,M1
[ For more on Luther and Muslims, see “Luther on the Turks and Islam” by Gregory J. Miller in T. Wengert, ed., in HARVESTING LUTHER’S REFLECTIONS on THEOLOGY, ETHICS, AND THE CHURCH (Eerdmans, 2003.) ]
Regarding Acts 12:1-11, see Paul F. Stuehrnberg, “The Study of Acts Before the Reformation...,” (Novum Testamentum, 1987, v. 3, BRILL and also his study writings on the “God-fearers” in Luther’s translation of Acts (Sixteenth Century Journal 1989, v. 20 n. 3: 4-7-415.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has excellent notes on the Timothy text at: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/2timothy/2timothy4.htm
An apt hymn for Peter & Paul would be “There is a Balm in Gilead” (ELW 614).
< Lexegete >
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LEXEGETE™
© 2008 Tischrede Software
Dartmouth, MA
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SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
June 29, 2008 (Lectionary 13)
Complementary Series
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 (1)
Romans 6:12-23
13. Matthew 10:40-42
Semicontinuous Series
Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13 (5)
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
1a. CONTEXT: Matthew 10:(34-39) 40-42
Today's text forms the conclusion of the second discourse in
Matthew, the commissioning of the disciples. Following last week's
Gospel, it begins with the strife to be expected by the followers of Jesus,
and concludes with the benefits to be expected by those who treat him and
his followers well. It is interesting to note that while Mark and Luke
report on the return of the followers after the sending out, Matthew
ignores it. This is probably not because Matthew thought the journey
unimportant or unsuccessful, but rather because the historical journey of
the twelve was not as important to Matthew as the implied commission to
all Christians.
The verses that make up this passage have some parallels in Luke
and some echoes in Mark and John. Matthew's editing ofthe various sayings
is unique. The notion that family strife (10:34-37, and Lk 12:51-53, and
Lk 14:26) was a sign of the end times was traditional (Micah 7:6). Jesus
modified the tradition by stating that the Messiah himself would cause the
family strife, rather than having the Messiah be the one to end the strife.
Family ties were extremely important, but Jesus represented something
even more important. In Matthew's day, people, both Jewish and Gentile,
were experienceing family rifts because of Jesus. (Beare, THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO MATTHEW, p. 249).
Matthew 10:38 and 39 have parallels in all the Gospels. The notion
that following Jesus entailed suffering and sacrifice was held commonly.
That Matthew chose to put the sayings about the cross-bearing and
following, and life-losing and gaining, between predictions of family
strife and directions about receiving followers of Jesus is interesting
here. The passage ends with directions about hospitality towards
Christians. Again, its was traditional to give an emissary the same
hospitality that one would give to the one the emissary represented.
1b. TEXT: Matthew 10:40-42
(ESV)
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
GREEK:
40ο δεχομενος υμας εμε δεχεται, και ο εμε δεχομενος δεχεται τον αποστειλαντα με.
41ο δεχομενος προφητην εις ονομα προφητου μισθον προφητου λημψεται, και ο δεχομενος δικαιον εις ονομα δικαιου μισθον δικαιου λημψεται.
42και ος αν ποτιση ενα των μικρων τουτων ποτηριον ψυχρου μονον εις ονομα μαθητου, αμην λεγω υμιν, ου μη απολεση τον μισθον αυτου.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 26th edition © 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
The Greek New Testament, 3rd edition © 1975, United Bible Societies, London.
2. ANALYSIS: Matthew 10:34-42
Matthew 10:34 - " I have not come to bring peace(eirenen) , but a sword(
machairan)." - While some may expect the coming of the Messiah to end
strife, Jesus engenders it, particularly among families. Luke 12:51 uses
"division" instead of "sword." Albright and Mann (ANCHOR BIBLE, p. 129)
focusing on Jesus' response to the expectations put upon him, translate
Matthew, "I have come neither to impose peace, nor yet to make war."
10:37 - "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me."
- The "hate" in Luke 14:26 is less strong in Greek than in English. (Beare,
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW, p. 250). Matthew's emphasis is on
loyalty to Jesus; Luke's is more on the cost of the loyalty. "worthy of me,"
(mou aksios) used three times in 10:37-38 is typical of Matthew. Note
that Luke uses "be my disciple."
10:38 - "and he who does not take his cross and follow me.." - Some form
of this saying exists in all 3 synoptics. Note that here and in the parallel
form (LK 14:27) the negative is used. Mt. 16:24, Mk 8:34, and Lk 9:23 are
positive forms. This is Matthew's first use of the cross and is significant
because of it. (Fenton, SAINT MATTHEW, p. 165) Although it is possible
that Jesus' disciples had to face the thought of their own crucifixion
within Jesus' lifetime (Albright and Mann, p. 132), it is clear that Matthew
is again speaking to his own community here.
10:39 - "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my
sake will find it." - This saying, too, has multiple parallels: Lk 17:33 (the
closest), Mt. 16:25, Mk 8:35, Lk 9:24, and Jn 12:25. In Greek, the find
life/lose life dichotomy does not imply "live or die," though Matthew's
placement of it right after the cross-bearing section tempts one. "Lose" (
apoluo) here has the sense of "let go" or "be liberated," which does not
necessarily imply literal death. "Psyche" here is another difficult word.
Although the RSV translates it "life," soul or self is probably better. Note
that Luke 17:33 omits "for my sake."
10:41 - "He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward..." - This verse has no parallels and is cause for
confusion. Albright and Mann suggest tht both "Prophet" and "Righteous
one" refer to Jesus himself (p. 133), although most commentators assume
that they refer to classes of early Christians. "eis onoma" means literally,
"in the name of." The reward of the one who receives the prophet or
righteous one will be the same as that one's. There's a commutative
principle at work here.
10:42 - "these little ones" (ton mikron) is a phrase Matthew often uses of
the disciples.
3. STRATEGY: Matthew 10:34-42
Today's text concludes Matthew's commission of the disciples,
without indicating that they ever did what they were asked. (Contrast
Mark 6:12 and Luke 9:6.) And so, without casting aspersions on the
disciples, the preacher could focus the sermon on "The Unfinished
Commission," or "The Unfinished Agenda." Myths and fairy tales often tell
of a group of people with an expectation that can only be filled by the right
person--he must slay the dragon; she must answer the riddle. Jewish
society expected a Messiah. Jesus came as the fulfillment of that
society's expectation (whether they knew it or not) and turned the tables.
In fulfilling the expectation that the society has for him, he has set up an
expectation in turn for the society itself to fulfill. Matthew, Mark and
Luke all have Jesus stating his expectations to the disciples. But in
leaving the commissioning open-ended, Matthew also invites his readers to
include themselves in the expectation.
So how do we respond to the unfinished commission? How
literally do we take it? How much do we tailor it to suit our needs and
wishes? If we look to this passage to give us guidance on our commission,
we learn, first, that following Christ can call into question the things we
hold most dear, namely our family relationships. Material things are not
even mentioned here--it is assumed we are beyond these. But family
harmony is not only God-given, it is God-mandated. However, our
commission takes precedence over our obligations to maintain even as
religiously defensible a thing as family peace. Should your church happen
to schedule a baptism this Sunday, it is interesting to note that Luke's
parallel passage is preceded with a violent baptismal reference. "I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is
accomplished!" (Lk 12:50) Baptism is too often perceived as a living
Hallmark card. To remind the congregation that baptism is more than just
a photo opportunity/family gathering is in keeping with the passage.
We also learn that the unfinished commission turns our lives
and expectations upside down. William Blake's poem, "Eternity," reflects
the sense of losing and gaining being switched:
"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise."
Holding on and letting go are reversed in this paradox. The suffering that we all experience is not an end in itself. It is part of a process. The point is not simply to lug a cross around; it is to take up one's cross AND to follow.
Finally, we learn that there will be solidarity in this process, that
by joining the unfinished commission we join others. Verses 40-42 tell of
a solidarity among Christians, a connection that is the body of Christ. The
passage which began so violently, with the bursting in of the sword, ends
ever so gently, with a cup of water for the "little ones." If sentimentality
about family is smashed earlier, we learn here that the commission is not
loveless or heartless. Loyalty is redefined; love is reaffirmed.
4. REFERENCES
Albright, W.F., and Mann, C.S. THE ANCHOR BIBLE: MATTHEW. Garden City:
New York: Doubleday & Co., 1971.
Beare, F.W. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
Blake, William. "Eternity," in THE POETRY AND PROSE OF WILLIAM BLAKE, edited
by David Erdman. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1970.
Fenton, J.C. SAINT MATTHEW. Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1963.
5. WORSHIP SUGGESTIONS
O GOD OF EARTH AND ALTAR (LBW 428) would make an appropriate
first hymn, opening the service with a statement of some of the ills in the
world. WHERE RESTLESS CROWDS ARE THRONGING (LBW 430) has the same
theme, with the refrain, "You, O Christ, are there." A sermon hymn might
well emphasize the solidarity of believers engaged in the commission,
such as BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS (LBW 370). I BIND UNTO MYSELF
TODAY (LBW 188, although the Episcopal version is vastly better, being
complete, cf. ELW 450) would also be a fine choice, emphasizing the connection
between baptism and the commitment to the commission. Other baptismal
hymns might also be appropriate. THROUGH THE NIGHT OF DOUBT AND
SORROW (LBW 355, ELW 327) would end the service appropriately on the theme of
pilgrimage. THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION (LBW 369, ELW 654) would also go well at the end.
If the unfinished commission is the theme of the day, one might well incorporate it into the intercessory prayers and passing of the peace. This might also be an appropriate time for baptism or the affirmation of baptism in the incorporation of new members. We are all engaged in the unfinished commission. We have joined in media res. To witness others joining in media res today emphasizes the nature of the common pilgrimage.
Exegete: Rev. Jessica Crist
Bishop, Montana Synod / ELCA
http://www.montanasynod.org/leaders.html
or Peter and Paul, Apostles may be observed:
Lexegete ™ | Year A | Matthew
PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES - LINKS
June 29, 2008
Acts 12:1-11
Psalm 87:1-3, 5-7 (3)
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
John 21:15-19
Note: The Peter & Paul pericope is noted by Luther in his essay
“On the War Against the Turk,” (1529, trans. Jacobs) in the new boxed set of Luther’s Selected Writings, found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=cHvf_xp6V8IC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Luther+on++John+21:15-19&source=web&ots=4jbwkNqNRz&sig=7mUlaU5D4GOraZrZQwKew1xksLQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPP1,M1
[ For more on Luther and Muslims, see “Luther on the Turks and Islam” by Gregory J. Miller in T. Wengert, ed., in HARVESTING LUTHER’S REFLECTIONS on THEOLOGY, ETHICS, AND THE CHURCH (Eerdmans, 2003.) ]
Regarding Acts 12:1-11, see Paul F. Stuehrnberg, “The Study of Acts Before the Reformation...,” (Novum Testamentum, 1987, v. 3, BRILL and also his study writings on the “God-fearers” in Luther’s translation of Acts (Sixteenth Century Journal 1989, v. 20 n. 3: 4-7-415.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has excellent notes on the Timothy text at: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/2timothy/2timothy4.htm
An apt hymn for Peter & Paul would be “There is a Balm in Gilead” (ELW 614).
< Lexegete >
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
LEXEGETE™
© 2008 Tischrede Software
Dartmouth, MA
__________________________________________________________________
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Monday, May 19, 2008
PENTECOST TWO, 2008 | Visitation
Lexegete™ | Year A | Matthew
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
May 25, 2008 (Lectionary 8)
Isaiah 49:8-16a
Psalm 131 (2)1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
May 31, 2008
1 Samuel 2:1-10 • Psalm 113 (2) • Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
1. Context: Matthew 6:24-34
Here we have one of the greatest of texts from the Sermon on the Mount. It is a fitting text for this part of the Christian year, in the aftermath of the Easter Season, as we (Americans and others across the globe) as we contemplate the impact of major disasters such as cyclones, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquake, and global warning (a slow-motion catastrophe). Of course the quintessential idea buried in this text is found in the verse 24 in which Jesus cites a Jewish proverb “No one can serve two masters.” One can easily see how, in the wrong hands, this text could become an occasion for preaching a law-based theology, or law alone. Dr. David Tiede addressed this briefly in the journal Word and World in 1984:
Matthew 6:24-34: This glimpse of the good life has caught the attention of anxious,
stressed, compulsive, and fearful people throughout the ages. Even as general counsel to “take it easy” it would probably be medically sound for most people. But more is at stake than the
commendation of a laid back lifestyle. The profound assurance of the heavenly Father’s care is
central to this counsel, and the quest of God’s kingdom and righteousness indicate how these
gentle words are related to the rest of the Sermon. In declaring and describing this undergirding reality of grace, Jesus has gone beyond exposing our desperate anxieties. The eschatological dominion of God has already been revealed, and neither depth of hell nor height of heaven can contain the extent of God’s grace. “Do not be anxious” is thus not simply one more command which anxiety-ridden people may now struggle to achieve. The double bind of struggling to master such a command is well known by anyone who has endured medical treatment. But this is a declaration filled with a promise. The righteousness and kingdom of God are already disclosed and imparted in Jesus, and the invitation to trust is as secure as the authority of the Proclaimer himself.
2. Text: Matthew 6:24-34
NRSV:
24“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
GREEK:
24ουδεις δυναται δυσι κυριοις δουλευειν: η γαρ τον ενα μισησει και τον ετερον αγαπησει, η ενος ανθεξεται και του ετερου καταφρονησει: ου δυνασθε θεω δουλευειν και μαμωνα.
25δια τουτο λεγω υμιν, μη μεριμνατε τη ψυχη υμων τι φαγητε [η τι πιητε,] μηδε τω σωματι υμων τι ενδυσησθε: ουχι η ψυχη πλειον εστιν της τροφης και το σωμα του ενδυματος;
26εμβλεψατε εις τα πετεινα του ουρανου οτι ου σπειρουσιν ουδε θεριζουσιν ουδε συναγουσιν εις αποθηκας, και ο πατηρ υμων ο ουρανιος τρεφει αυτα: ουχ υμεις μαλλον διαφερετε αυτων;
27τις δε εξ υμων μεριμνων δυναται προσθειναι επι την ηλικιαν αυτου πηχυν ενα;
28και περι ενδυματος τι μεριμνατε; καταμαθετε τα κρινα του αγρου πως αυξανουσιν: ου κοπιωσιν ουδε νηθουσιν:
29λεγω δε υμιν οτι ουδε σολομων εν παση τη δοξη αυτου περιεβαλετο ως εν τουτων.
30ει δε τον χορτον του αγρου σημερον οντα και αυριον εις κλιβανον βαλλομενον ο θεος ουτως αμφιεννυσιν, ου πολλω μαλλον υμας, ολιγοπιστοι;
31μη ουν μεριμνησητε λεγοντες, τι φαγωμεν; η, τι πιωμεν; η, τι περιβαλωμεθα;
32παντα γαρ ταυτα τα εθνη επιζητουσιν: οιδεν γαρ ο πατηρ υμων ο ουρανιος οτι χρηζετε τουτων απαντων.
33ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν [του θεου] και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου, και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν.
34μη ουν μεριμνησητε εις την αυριον, η γαρ αυριον μεριμνησει εαυτης: αρκετον τη ημερα η κακια αυτης.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland XXVIth edition © 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
3. Analysis: Matthew 6:24-34
William T. Cavanaugh’s theological focus has clearly been on the contrast between worldly wealth and the Real Presence of the tortured and risen Christ in the Eucharist. (On these two points, see especially his books Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ: Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Blackwell, 1998), and Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Eerdmans, 2008). An article he wrote for Concilium also combined these two focal points:
Consumption, the Market, and the Eucharist
by William T. Cavanaugh
William T. Cavanaugh is a professor of Theology at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Among his numerous publications are the books Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ (Challenges in Contemporary Theology and Theopolitical Imagination: Christian Practices of Space and Time.
There was a woman named Rosalinda with whom I attended Sunday mass when I lived in Chile in the 1980s. Rosalinda lived in a small wooden shanty with her elderly mother. Their income, which sufficed for little more than bread and tea, was derived from the potholders and other items that Rosalinda crocheted and sold at the local market. On one of my first visits to her home, Rosalinda gave me a little crocheted bird that is used for grasping the handles of hot tea kettles. When Rosalinda presented it to me as I was leaving her home, my first impulse was to reach into my pocket and give her some money for it. But I sensed that that would have been the wrong thing to do.
The little blue-green bird with a white fringe currently adorns the rice container on my kitchen counter. I live with my wife and kids a world away from Santiago in St. Paul, Minnesota. We live our lives at the intersection of two stories about the world: the Eucharist and the market. Both tell stories of hunger and consumption, of exchanges and gifts. The stories both overlap and compete. I will try to tell these two stories briefly, and reflect on what they mean for Rosalinda and the bird.
I. Hunger and the market
Economics, we are told, is the science which studies the allocation of resources under conditions of scarcity. The very basis of the market, trade – giving up something to get something else – assumes scarcity. Resources are scarce wherever the desires of all persons for goods or services cannot be met. Hunger, in other words, is written into the conditions under which economics operates. There is never enough to go around. But it is not simply the hunger of those who lack sufficient food to keep their bodies in good health. Scarcity is the more general hunger of those who want more, without reference to what they already have. Economics will always be the science of scarcity as long as individuals continue to want. And we are told that human desires are endless.
This insight about desire is not new. For St. Augustine, the constant renewing of desire is a condition of being creatures in time. Desire is not simply negative; our desires are what get us out of bed in the morning. We desire because we live. The problem is that our desires continue to light on objects which fail to satisfy, objects on the lower end of the scale of being which, if cut off from the Source of their being, quickly dissolve into nothing.1 The solution to the restlessness of desire is to cultivate a desire for God, the eternal. Augustine famously prays to God that “our heart is restless until it rests in you.”2
In a consumer-driven market economy, the restlessness of desire is also recognized. Marketing constantly seeks to meet, create, and stoke new desires, often by highlighting a sense of dissatisfaction with what one presently has and is. In a consumer culture, we recognize the validity of Augustine’s insight: particular material things cannot satisfy. Rather than causing us to turn away from material things and towards God, however, in consumer culture we plunge ever more deeply into the world of things. Dissatisfaction and fulfillment cease to be opposites, for pleasure is not in possessing objects but in their pursuit. Possession kills eros; familiarity breeds contempt. This is why shopping itself has taken on the honored status of an addiction in Western society. It is not the desire for any thing in particular, but the pleasure of stoking desire itself that makes malls into the new cathedrals of Western culture. The dynamic is not an inordinate attachment to material things, but an irony and detachment from all things. At the level of economics, scarcity is treated as a tragic inability to meet the needs of all people, especially those whom hunger and extreme deprivation confront daily with death. At the level of experience, scarcity in consumer culture is associated with the pleasurable sensation of desiring. Scarcity is implied in the daily erotics of desire that keeps the individual in pursuit of novelty.
For a number of reasons, desire in consumer society keeps us distracted from the desires of the truly hungry, those who experience hunger as life-threatening deprivation. It is not simply that the market encourages an erotic attraction toward things, not persons. It is that the market story establishes a fundamentally individualistic view of the human person. The idea of scarcity assumes that the normal condition for the communication of goods is by trade. To get something, one must relinquish something else. The idea of scarcity implies that goods are not held in common. The consumption of goods is essentially a private experience. This does not mean that charitable giving is forbidden, but it is relegated to the private realm of preference, not justice. One might always send a check to help feed the hungry. One’s charitable preferences, however, will always be in competition with one’s own endless desires. The idea of scarcity establishes the view that no one has enough. My desires to feed the hungry are always being distracted by the competition between their desires and my own.
Adam Smith thought that this distraction was a result of the fact that every person is “by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care.”3
Men, though naturally sympathetic, feel so little for another, with whom they have no particular connexion, in comparison of what they feel for themselves; the misery of one, who is merely their fellow-creature, is of so little importance to them in comparison even of a small conveniency of their own."4
In his Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith pondered the question of how disinterested moral judgments could ever trump self-interest. He developed the idea that pain and other sentiments are communicable from one individual to another by the ability of the human person sympathetically to put him or herself in the position of another. Nevertheless, according to Smith, nature has made our resentment to a lack of justice greater than our resentment to a lack of benevolence, so only the former is subject to punishment: “when a man shuts his breast against compassion, and refuses to relieve the misery of his fellow-creatures, when he can with the greatest ease… though everybody blames the conduct, nobody imagines that those who might have reason, perhaps, to expect more kindness, have any right to extort it by force.”5 Society can exist without benevolence, but not without justice.6 Absent explicit violence or theft, the inability of a person to feed him or herself is not a failure of justice, but a call for benevolence, which falls to individuals. The communicability of pain in the body of society is faint. Moral indignation in its strong form is reserved for explicit attacks on the status quo of life and property.
Adam Smith does not simply leave the care of the hungry to individual preference, however, for in the larger scheme of The Wealth of Nations, the needs of the hungry are addressed by the providential care of the market. According to Smith, the invisible hand of the market guides economic activity such that the pursuit of self-interest by uncoordinated individuals miraculously works out to the benefit of all. The great economic machine of society is driven by people’s wants. Through the mechanism of demand and supply, the competition of self-interested individuals will result in the production of the goods society wants, at the right prices, with sufficient employment for all at the right wages for the foreseeable future. The result is an eschatology in which abundance for all is just around the corner. In the contemporary consumer-driven economy, consumption is often urged as the solution to the suffering of others. Buy more to get the economy moving – more consumption means more jobs. By the miracle of the market, my consumption feeds you. One story the market tells, then, is that of scarcity miraculously turned into abundance by consumption itself, a contemporary loaves-and-fishes saga.
In reality, however, consumerism is the death of Christian eschatology. There can be no rupture with the status quo, no inbreaking Kingdom of God, but only endless superficial novelty. As Vincent Miller writes, “Since desire is sustained by being detached from particular objects, consumer anticipation wishes for everything and hopes for nothing.”7 The witness of the martyrs to living the Kingdom of God in the present becomes a curiosity; how could someone be so committed to some particular thing as to lose his life for it? We are moved by the suffering of others, but we can hardly imagine a change radical enough to undermine the paradigm of consumption. Even the suffering of others can become a spectacle and a consumable item8 – tsunamis sell newspapers. And so we choose to believe that, through the miracle of free competition, our consumption will feed others. The truth, however, is that self-interested consumption does not bring justice to the hungry. The consumer’s pursuit of low, low prices at Wal-Mart means low, low wages for the people in Asia who make the products we buy. Eschatological hope easily fades into resignation to a tragic world of scarcity.
II. Hunger and the Eucharist
The Eucharist tells another story about hunger and consumption. It does not begin with scarcity, but with the one who came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry’” (John 6:35). The insatiability of human desire is absorbed by the abundance of God’s grace in the gift of the body and blood of Christ. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life” (6:54), they are raised above mere temporal longing for novelty. And the body and blood of Christ are not scarce commodities; the host and the cup are multiplied daily at thousands of Eucharistic celebrations throughout the world. “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away” (6:37).
This invitation to come and be filled is assimilable to private spiritualities of self-fulfillment if it is packaged as an “experience” of divine life. But the abundance of the Eucharist is inseparable from the kenosis, the self-emptying, of the cross. The consumer of the body and blood of Christ does not remain detached from what he or she consumes, but becomes part of the Body. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (6:56). The act of consumption of the Eucharist does not entail the appropriation of goods for private use, but rather being assimilated to a public body, the Body of Christ. Augustine hears the voice of God say “I am the food of the fully grown; grow and you will feed on me. And you will not change me into you like the food your flesh eats, but you will be changed into me.”9 The Eucharist effects a radical decentering of the individual by incorporating the person into a larger body. In the process, the act of consumption is turned inside-out, such that the consumer is consumed.
When we consume the Eucharist, we become one with others, and share their fate. Paul asks the Corinthians “The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” Paul answers “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage, "because he said A SHARING IN THE BODY, and that which shares is different from what it shares in, he removed even this small difference. For after he said A SHARING IN THE BODY, he sought again to express it more precisely, and so he added FOR WE, THOUGH MANY, ARE ONE BREAD, ONE BODY. “For why am I speaking of sharing?” he says, “We are that very body.” For what is the bread? The body of Christ. And what do they become who partake of it? The body of Christ; not many bodies, but one body."10
The enacting of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist has a dramatic effect on the communicability of pain from one person to another, for individuals are now united in one body, connected by one nervous system. Not only can the eye not say to the hand “I have no need of you” (I Cor. 12:21), but the eye and the hand suffer or rejoice in the same fate. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26). For this reason, Paul tells the Corinthians that we should take special care for the weakest members of the body (12:22-25), presumably because the whole body is only as strong as its weakest member.
This communicability of pain underlies the obligation of the followers of Christ toward the hungry. The point of the story of final judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46 is not simply that an individual performing good deeds -- such as feeding the hungry -- will be rewarded with a ticket to the Kingdom. The force of the story lies in the identification of Christ with the hungry: “for I was hungry and you gave me food” (25:35). The pain of the hungry person is the pain of Christ, and it is therefore also the pain of the member of Christ’s body who feeds the hungry person. Unlike in Adam Smith, there is no priority of justice to charity here, no prior sorting out of who deserves what before benevolence can take place. In Matthew as in Paul, the hungry and the benevolent are confused in Christ, such that distinctions between justice and charity, public and private, become impediments to seeing reality as God sees it.
Adam Smith’s economy underwrites a separation between contractual exchanges and gifts. Benevolence is a free suspension of self-interested exchange. As such, benevolence cannot be expected or even encouraged on the public level, because the market functions for the good of all on the basis of self-interested consumption and production. Benevolent giving freely transfers property from one to another, but nevertheless respects the boundaries between what is mine and what is yours. In the Eucharistic economy, by contrast, the gift relativizes the boundaries between what is mine and what is yours by relativizing the boundary between me and you. We are no longer two individuals encountering each other either by way of contract or as active giver and passive recipient. Without losing our identities as unique persons – Paul’s analogy of the body extols the diversity of eyes and hands, heads and feet – we cease to be merely other to one another by incorporation into the Body of Christ. In the Eucharist, Christ is gift, giver, and recipient. We are neither merely active nor passive, but participate in the divine life, such that we are fed and simultaneously become food for others.
Our temptation is to spiritualize all this talk of union, to make our connection to the hungry a mystical act of imaginative sympathy. We could then imagine that we are already in communion with those who lack food, whether or not we meet their needs. Matthew is having none of this, placing of the obligation to feed the hungry in the context of eschatological judgment. Paul too places neglect of the hungry in the context of judgment. At the Eucharistic celebration in Corinth, which included a common meal, those who eat while others go hungry “show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing” (I Cor. 11:22). Those who thus, in an “unworthy manner,” partake of the body and blood of Christ “eat and drink judgment against themselves” (11:27. 29). Those of us who partake in the Eucharist while ignoring the hungry may be eating and drinking our own damnation.
The Eucharist places judgment in the eschatological context of God’s inbreaking Kingdom. There is no gradual immanent progress toward abundance which the market, driven by our consumption, is always about to -- but never actually does -- bring about. The Eucharist announces the coming of the Kingdom of God now, already in the present, by the grace of God. Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium affirms the eschatological dimension of the Eucharist in these terms: "In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims..."11 In the Eucharist, God breaks in and disrupts the tragic despair of human history with a message of hope and a demand for justice. The hungry cannot wait; the heavenly feast is now. The end-less consumption of superficial novelty is broken by the promise of an end, the Kingdom toward which history is moving and which is already breaking into history. The Kingdom is not driven by our desires, but by God’s desire, which we receive as gift in the Eucharist.
I think I have an idea now of why it would have been wrong to give Rosalinda money for the bird. It would have annulled the gift and turned it into an exchange. It would have re-established the boundaries between what is hers and what is mine, and therefore reinforced the boundaries between her and me. The Eucharist tells a different story about who we -- the hungry and the filled -- really are, and where we are going.
Endnotes
1. Augustine, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 29-30 [Book II, §10].
2. Ibid., 3 [Book I, §1].
3. Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. A.L. Macfie and D. D. Raphael (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), 82 [II.ii.2.1].
4. Ibid., 86 [II.ii.3.4].
5. Ibid., 81 [II.ii.1.7].
6. Ibid., 85-91 [II.ii.3].
7. Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum Books, 2003), 132.
8. See ibid., 133-4.
9. Augustine, 124 [Book VII, §16].
10. St. John Chrysostom, Homily on I Corinthians, no. 24 in The Eucharist: Message of the Fathers of the Church, ed. Daniel J. Sheerin (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1986), 210.
11. Sacrosanctum Concilium 8, in Documents of Vatican II, Austin P. Flannery, ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975), 5.
© Concilium. Erasmusplein 1 | 6525 HT Nijmegen | The Netherlands
4. Srategy: Matthew 6:24-34
As already noted, a challenging resource person for thinking about matters of abundance and consumption is the Catholic moralist, William T. Cavanaugh. What follows below is an article he wrote for SOJOURNERS magazine, which demonstrates a fruitful way of reflecting upon, preaching toward, or warning about the perils of abundance in a world of globalization, scarcity, lifeboat ethics, poverty, “The Tragedy of the Commons” , the Credit Crunch of 2007/8, and the global Food Crisis
Predicted in The Economist (“End of Cheap Food, “ Dec. 6, 2007, WEB: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10252015 ).
When Enough is Enough
Why God's abundant life won't fit in a shopping cart,
and other mysteries of consumerism.
by William T. Cavanaugh
The contrast between consumerism and simple living at first glance seems fairly straightforward: Consumerism is about having more stuff, simple living is about having less stuff. Consumerism seems to be a permutation of the age-old vice of avarice, whose "special malice," says the Catholic Encyclopedia, "lies in that it makes the getting and keeping of money, possessions, and the like a purpose in itself to live for." As the old vitamin commercial from the ’80s so bluntly put it, "I want MORE for ME."
Avarice, however, does not really exhaust the phenomenon of consumerism. Consumerism is not so much about having more as it is about having something else. It is not buying but shopping that captures the spirit of consumerism. Buying is certainly an important part of consumerism, but buying brings a temporary halt to the restlessness that typifies it. It is this restlessness—the moving on to shopping for something else no matter what one has just purchased—that sets the spiritual tone for consumerism.
In the Christian tradition we are accustomed to thinking that the greatest temptation associated with material things is an inordinate attachment to them. Since biblical times and before, some people have accumulated great stores of wealth, and the Bible is often quite severe in its judgment of them. When we hear that the "love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10), and that the "poor in spirit" are blessed (Matthew 5:3), we resolve to cultivate an attitude of detachment from the material things we have. The problem is that consumerism is already a spiritual discipline of detachment, though one with a very different way of operating than classical Christian asceticism.
What marks consumerism as something new is its tendency to reduce everything, both the material and the spiritual, to a commodity able to be exchanged. Things that no other culture ever thought could be bought and sold—water, genetic codes, names (Tostitos Fiesta Bowl), human blood, the rights to emit pollutants into the air—are now routinely offered on the market. The recent story of the Nebraska man who auctioned off advertising space on his forehead is only the latest example of the commodification of everything. This story is not so much a lesson about greed—his forehead was apparently not big enough to garner bids for more than a few hundred dollars—as a statement about the extent to which we are able to become detached from even those things, like our foreheads, to which we are most obviously attached. We stand back from our bodies, faiths, vocations. Our very identity is something to be tried on, chosen, bought, sold, and discarded at will.
The satisfying nature of dissatisfaction. Consumerism is a spiritual attitude that is deeply entangled with changes since the Industrial Revolution in the way goods are produced. In pre-industrial society, the home was a place not merely of consumption but of production. Most people lived on farms and made the majority of the goods that they needed. Starting with the enclosure of common lands in England and elsewhere in Europe, the bulk of the population was moved away from subsistence farming and into factory labor. Cottage industries were wiped away by the production of cheap goods from mechanized factories, compelling people to enter the market as wage laborers.
With the relentless pressures on the family farm that continue today, the home as a site of significant production has all but disappeared. We make almost nothing of what we consume. The process of globalization has accelerated this detachment from production. Fewer and fewer of us have any idea what factory work is like, since manufacturing jobs are more and more being transferred overseas. Nor do we have much more than a vague idea of the wages or working conditions of the workers who make what we buy.
There are two significant results to these historical shifts. First, many people have become detached from their labor, seeing work not as a creative vocation but as a commodity to be sold in exchange for wages. Part of our very selves and the impress we make on the world is commodified. Second, our connection to things has become very tenuous. We know almost nothing about how products are made and how they end up in our shopping cart. The bananas we meet in the grocery story refuse to tell us how they ended up in Minnesota in the dead of winter. We eat cows without ever having been near more than a few pounds of beef flesh at any one time. We simply pull products off the shelves, dump them in our carts, and keep shopping.
Detached from their origins in human work and the networks of human community, commodities take on a life of their own. In the moment of encounter between product and consumer, the connection to other people and places falls away. The consumer has little or no connection to the producer, and more than likely has little connection to the seller either, since most local stores have been replaced by giant, impersonal chain stores. The relationship of consumption has been reduced to the bare encounter of consumer and thing, with nothing to connect the two except the utility of the product to the consumer.
The story does not end with the detachment of consumers from production and from things, however, for alienation and detachment do not explain the appeal of consumerism. If the consumer and the inert thing were left staring at each other across the store aisle, consumption would not keep pace with production. The product must be made to sing and dance and create a new kind of relationship between itself and the consumer.
Histories of marketing commonly trace the rise of mass advertising to the need to create mass consumption in the wake of industrialization. Factories were capable of producing goods at a heretofore unimaginable rate. The value of manufactured goods increased more than sixfold during the last four decades of the 19th century. Markets had to be created for all those products. People had to be trained to act as consumers, to be attracted to items to which they had no natural connection. Marketers began talking about "building relationships" between consumers and products. The catch is that these relationships could not be too durable or, once again, the pace of consumption would not keep up with the pace of production. People could not become too content or attached to products; desire had to be kept on the move. So began what the marketing department of General Motors—in a reference to changing car models every year—once called "the organized creation of dissatisfaction."
What has happened in consumer society is that dissatisfaction and satisfaction have ceased to be opposites. Pleasure resides not in having but in wanting. Insofar as an item obtained brings a temporary halt to desire, it becomes undesirable. This is why shopping, not buying, captures the spirit of consumerism, and why shopaholism is being treated as an addiction. Consumerism is a restless spirit, constantly in search of something new. Consumerism is typified by detachment, not attachment, for desire must be kept on the move. Consumerism is also typified by scarcity, not abundance, for as long as desire is endless, there will never be enough stuff to go around.
Being consumed. If detachment is the problem, should the Christian respond with greater attachment to material things? Not exactly. St. Augustine famously prayed to God "our heart is restless until it rests in you." Augustine knew that mere created things fall far short of the glory of God, such that ultimate satisfaction can never be found in created things on their own. Nevertheless, created things are good because they participate in the goodness of their creator. They contain vestiges of the Creator in them, vestiges that ought to lead us beyond the things themselves to the source of their being.
In this spiritual universe there is no such thing as an isolated commodity confronting an isolated individual. All created things sing and dance and shout of the glory of God. People and things are united in one great web of being, flowing from and returning to their Creator. Our dissatisfaction with things does not lead us endlessly on to the next thing but to our true end in God. The Christian view elevates the dignity of things by seeing them as participating in the being of God, but simultaneously causes us to look through and beyond things to their Creator.
Participation in this great web of created being informs the way that Christians view production. Work is not simply a means to gaining money so that we may consume. Work establishes an intimacy with God’s creation, so that we become, as Pope John Paul II reminds us, "co-creators" with God in our work. Participation in God also informs how we view one another. Human persons are not only connected to things but to other persons. We are all made in the image of God, and all made to participate in the body of Christ. Such is our close connection that we share the same sufferings and the same joys (1 Corinthians 12:26). It is as impossible to ignore sweatshop labor as it is to ignore pain in our own bodies.
In the Christian view, we do not stand apart from the rest of creation as individuals, appropriating, consuming, and discarding. We are rather consumed, as it were, by something larger than us. When we consume the body of Christ at the Lord’s table, we are in fact consumed by the larger body, the church. Augustine hears Christ’s voice say, "Grow and you will feed on me. And you will not change me into you like the food your flesh eats, but you will be changed into me." At the communion table, the act of consumption is turned inside out, such that in eating we become food for others. True consumption, in the Christian understanding, is thus a kind of self-emptying, a decentering of the self into a larger web of participation. Thus Jesus connects the "abundant life" in John 10:10 to laying down one’s life in 10:11. True abundance is never realized by the competition of insatiable desires for scarce goods. It is realized by emptying the small self into the larger reality of God’s superabundant life.
The Christian task in a consumer society, then, is to create economic spaces that underscore our spiritual and physical connection to creation and to each other. We must strive to demystify commodities by being informed about where they come from, who makes them, and under what conditions. We should support products, such as fair-trade coffee, that pull back the veil from the production process and offer a sustainable life to their producers. We should attempt to create local, face-to-face economies, where consumers and producers know each other well enough that their interests tend to merge. My parish’s connection to a local cooperative of family farms (www.wholefarmcoop.com) is a hopeful example.
Finally, we should attempt to close the gap between work and consumption by supporting worker ownership of the means of production. The first step toward doing so is turning our homes back into sites of production. To bake bread, to make our own entertainment, and do so in community with others: These are small but important steps in turning from consumers to celebrants of God’s abundant life.
William T. Cavanaugh was associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and author most recently of Theopolitical Imagination (T. & T. Clark) when this article appeared.
5. Further Reading: Matthew 6:24-34
James H. Burtness, “Life-Style and Law: Some Reflections on Matthew 5:17,” dialog 14 (1975) 13-20.
William T. Cavanaugh. Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ: Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Blackwell, 1998).
William T. Cavanaugh. Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Eerdmans, 2008).
W. D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1964).
Jack Dean Kingsbury, “The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel and His Concept of Salvation-History,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 35 (1973) 451-474.
Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew (Atlanta: John Knox, 1975).
David L. Tiede. "Matthew 6:24-34, The 8th Sunday after the Epiphany," Let Your Light Shine: The Sermon on the Mount in Epiphany, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, v. 4 n. 1: 1984.
6. Worship Suggestions: Matthew 6:24-34
Each and every celebration of the Eucharist is by definition a meet, right, and salutary occasion for exploring the deeper meaning of the Sermon on the Mount. But the Eucharist should NOT be used as an excuse for scolding Christians (or others) for the foibles and frailties of materialism, or their clinging to material things for security or a putative “pursuit of happiness” or what the people who write ad copy for Cadillac motors now call, simply enough, “The Pursuit!”
It would be a far better thing, as Prof. Cavanaugh does above, to reflect on one or more encounters between poverty and abundance, haves and have-nots, or between the tortured and risen Christ we encounter in the Eucharist as he is manifest in our actual, material world with all its human insecurities, grasping and grabbing, bribery and bullying. If one keeps one’s eye on the Gospel, it might be possible to do so without playing the “Marx card” or without merely playing up guilt feelings for a temporary session of flogging. Luther, with the help of Johann Staupitz, showed long ago the futility of such an approach. There are myriad hymns which address these themes. Some which might be especially apt fcor this Gospel pericope are:
‘Tis A Gift to be Simple” (Shaker Hymn)
“Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service” (ELW 712)
“God of Grace and God of Glory (ELW 705)
“Turn Back, O Man” (Old 124th, SBH 348)
Exegete: David A. Buehler | Providence College (RI)
Lexegete™ | Year A | Matthew
VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
May 31, 2008
1 Samuel 2:1-10 • Psalm 113 (2) • Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
1. CONTEXT: Luke 1:39-56
Mary's visit to Elizabeth follows the account of the annunciation of
Jesus' birth and artistically links the John the Baptist and Jesus cycles
together.
The MAGNIFICAT is a free composition modelled on Hannah's song (1
Samuel 2:1-10) and contains similar themes. There are many
reminiscences of the Old Testament, but unlike Zechariah's song, the
BENEDICTUS (1:68-79) it does not use LXX phrases. Hymnody of this sort
was written in the 1st century B.C., of which the Psalms of Solomon (circa
65-55 B.C.) are the examples most similar to the canticles in Luke. The
Qumran Hymns of Thanksgiving belong to the same genre but have the
peculiarities of the other Dead Sea Scrolls.
The sentiments of the MAGNIFICAT are revolutionary, although the
revolution is brought about by God alone. In Longfellow's poem, "King
Robert of Sicily," the king remarks, "'Tis well that such seditious words
were sung / only by priests and in the Latin tongue."
Luke thinks typologically; thus Hannah is the type of Mary--and John the
Baptist partly parallels Jesus. No one knows what sources Luke may have
used in writing chapters 1-2 but he composed them in a style imitating
the Septuagint. His picture of simple Jewish people who expected a
Davidic Messiah may partly describe actual non-Pharisaic Jews, but it is
an ideal, nostalgic portrait of the best of the piety of simple people. The
pericope is followed by the birth of John and by Zechariah's canticle.
1b. TEXT: Luke 1:39-56
NRSV:
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be* a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
Mary’s Song of Praise
46 And Mary* said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
56 And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.
The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
GREEK:
39αναστασα δε μαριαμ εν ταις ημεραις ταυταις επορευθη εις την ορεινην μετα σπουδης εις πολιν ιουδα,
40και εισηλθεν εις τον οικον ζαχαριου και ησπασατο την ελισαβετ. 41και εγενετο ως ηκουσεν τον ασπασμον της μαριας η ελισαβετ, εσκιρτησεν το βρεφος εν τη κοιλια αυτης, και επλησθη πνευματος αγιου η ελισαβετ,
42και ανεφωνησεν κραυγη μεγαλη και ειπεν, ευλογημενη συ εν γυναιξιν, και ευλογημενος ο καρπος της κοιλιας σου.
43και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς εμε; 44ιδου γαρ ως εγενετο η φωνη του ασπασμου σου εις τα ωτα μου, εσκιρτησεν εν αγαλλιασει το βρεφος εν τη κοιλια μου.
45και μακαρια η πιστευσασα οτι εσται τελειωσις τοις λελαλημενοις αυτη παρα κυριου.
46και ειπεν μαριαμ, μεγαλυνει η ψυχη μου τον κυριον,
47και ηγαλλιασεν το πνευμα μου επι τω θεω τω σωτηρι μου,
48οτι επεβλεψεν επι την ταπεινωσιν της δουλης αυτου. ιδου γαρ απο του νυν μακαριουσιν με πασαι αι γενεαι:
49οτι εποιησεν μοι μεγαλα ο δυνατος, και αγιον το ονομα αυτου,
50και το ελεος αυτου εις γενεας και γενεας τοις φοβουμενοις αυτον. 51εποιησεν κρατος εν βραχιονι αυτου, διεσκορπισεν υπερηφανους διανοια καρδιας αυτων:
52καθειλεν δυναστας απο θρονων και υψωσεν ταπεινους,
53πεινωντας ενεπλησεν αγαθων και πλουτουντας εξαπεστειλεν κενους. 54αντελαβετο ισραηλ παιδος αυτου, μνησθηναι ελεους,
55καθως ελαλησεν προς τους πατερας ημων, τω αβρααμ και τω σπερματι αυτου εις τον αιωνα.
56εμεινεν δε μαριαμ συν αυτη ως μηνας τρεις, και υπεστρεψεν εις τον οικον αυτης.
2. ANALYSIS: Luke 1:39-56
Luke 1:39 - oreinein - the hill country...Mary came from Nazareth and went
up into the central range. The traditional home of Zechariah and Elizabeth
is at Ein Karem, just west of Jerusalem.
Lk. 1:41 - kai epleisthe pneumatos hagiou - - Luke John the Baptist and
Jesus, Elizabeth is impelled by the Spirit.
Lk. 1:42 - Eulogeimenein - blessed; is almost synonomous with makaria in
verse 45, but the latter, here and in the Beatitudes, can perhaps better be
rendered as "happy;" it corresponds to the word in Psalm 1:1. This is,
however, a special kind of happiness such as the Greeks ascribed to their
gods.
Lk. 1:46 - Mariam - The variant Elisabet (see critical apparatus) is
interesting but not well attested, and verse 48f. applies better to Mary.
Lk. 1:47 - eigalliasen - "glad " - 1 Samuel 2:1-10 uses aorists also.
Lk. 1:48 - makariousin - cf. note on verse 42 - Here almost meaning
"congratulate."
Lk. 1:51-54 - The aorists epoieisen etc. suggest the Hebrew perfect tense.
These are prophecies of the future, but the thought is that if God has
decided on an action, it is as good as done already.
3. STRATEGY - Luke 1:39-56
The newer lectionaries, which read pericopes of the annunciation to
Joseph on Year A of this Sunday and to Mary on Year B, give the homilist
an opportunity to prepare for the Nativity in a more thorough fashion than
is possible on Christmas, particularly on Christmas Eve.
The visit to Elizabeth is charming in that it reminds one that the
Nativity is also a human story involving two happy women. Luke is
always sensitive to the interests of women; in chapters 1-2, Zechariah
and Joseph are only on the periphery.
The Magnificat inevitably recalls Hannah and the birth of Samuel who
was a little boy prophet and later became a king-maker and the judge of
kings. Jesus is born into a family which had messianic expectations. The
might will be put down and the humble exalted. Humanly speaking, it is
significant that he grew to maturity in such a household. The passage
from Micah 5:2-4 fits well with this, because it expects a Messiah from
Bethlehem who would shepherd the people of Israel.
Hebrews 10:5-10 is well chosen for this Sunday. The sacrificial
system in which Zechariah served with such awe and joy, and which was
good as far as it went, has been superseded by a better system in which
Jesus the high priest comes simply to do the will of God. In this he is like
his mother Mary (1:38) who, as Raymond Brown points out in his masterful
study THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH, is the model of Christian discipleship.
The gospel reading is another example of the reversal of roles which
runs throughout the gospel story. The mighty are put down and the gentle
and humble are exalted. The bad priesthood of the sons of Eli resulted in
disaster for Israel, but Samuel was instrumental in restoring the nation's
fortunes. The potentates of Jesus' time, mentioned on Advent 2, came to
bad ends or at least to an evil historical reputation. There were no more
obscure women than Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary, but they were the mothers
of sons whom all generations have glorified!
4. REFERENCES: Luke 1:39-56
Brown, Raymond E. THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH. Garden City: Doubleday,
1977, pp. 330-366.
5. MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Luke 1:39-56
Hymns that would be well suited for this Advent celebration day are:
COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS (LBW 30, HB 66); WAKE, AWAKE
(Wachet Auf, LBW 31, HB 61/2); THE KING SHALL COME (LBW 33, HB 73);
CREATOR OF THE STARS OF NIGHT (HB 60); HARK! THE GLAD SOUND (LBW 35,
HB 71/2); and, especially if the sermon is on Mary, LO,HOW A ROSE E'ER
BLOOMING (LBW 58, HB 81).
Exegete - Sherman E. Johnson, PhD, STD †
6. FURTHER READING
In his article, "Words at the Solstice: Four Theses and Eight Christmas
Greetings," [ dialog, vol. 21] liturgical scholar Gordon Lathrop shared a
number of thought-provoking insights into the liturgical significance of
Advent, Christmas and Solstice. Among these was the interesting
observation that the littleness and humility of Christ's nativity, the theme
of the cross, is at the heart of the season. It was most evident in
medieval liturgies in what Durandus called in the post-Christmass feasts
of the "companions of Christ," or COMITES CHRISTI.
Thus we mourn and rejoice at once over the ADMIRABILE COMMERCIUM,
the astonishing reversal through which our down-troddeness, our
awareness of suffering, (do we see it") is exchanged for his joy.
Hence the commemoration of the first martyr Stephen on December 26th,
the Apostle and Evangelist John on December 27th, and the victims of
Herod (i.e., Holy Innocents) on December 28th. Of course, for preaching
this text at the end of May, Memorial Day comes closer to the mood of the
passage!
To best set the mood of this text, LEXEGETE recommends that invaluable
liturgical handbook for this season which has been published by the
Archdiocese of Chicago,IL.
Entitled A CHRISTMAS SOURCEBOOK, edited by Mary Ann Simcoe, Chicago:
Liturgy Training Publications, 1984), it is an invaluable tool for preparing
not only one's mind but also one's heart and tuning one's liturgical
sensitivity seasons of birth and re-birth. The 158-page volume is filled
with wonderful examples of poetry and prose and prayer for the Incarnational
liturgical cycle of the church year (there is also a sourcebook for the
Triduum cycle, edited by M. Simcoe and Gabe Huck). In particular the
section on Mary, Mother of God, gives a refreshing look at the place of
Mary in the history of salvation, and even in an anonymous verse of 15th
Century English poetry:
Moder (mother) and mayden
was never none but she:
Well may such a lady
Goddes mother be.
The Christmas Sourcebook is highly recommended for poets, pastors and
preachers everywhere. The best source that Tischrede Software has found
for this and related books, cards, calendars, posters and prints on ritual,
religion, feasts and seasons remains from year to year the small family
mail-order business of Tom and Susan Cahill. Formerly (but no longer)
known as Cahill & Co., the Cahills dropped that label to later go by
the name of THE BOOKPERSON. For a copy of their interesting newsletter,
tell them you heard about it in LEXEGETE and drop them a line at:
The Bookperson [at the sign of the 3 Candles]
135 East 96th Street
New York, New York 10128
Among other things, you’d verify for me if they still exist!
d.b. | tischrede software
Lexegete™ © 2008
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
May 25, 2008 (Lectionary 8)
Isaiah 49:8-16a
Psalm 131 (2)1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
May 31, 2008
1 Samuel 2:1-10 • Psalm 113 (2) • Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
1. Context: Matthew 6:24-34
Here we have one of the greatest of texts from the Sermon on the Mount. It is a fitting text for this part of the Christian year, in the aftermath of the Easter Season, as we (Americans and others across the globe) as we contemplate the impact of major disasters such as cyclones, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquake, and global warning (a slow-motion catastrophe). Of course the quintessential idea buried in this text is found in the verse 24 in which Jesus cites a Jewish proverb “No one can serve two masters.” One can easily see how, in the wrong hands, this text could become an occasion for preaching a law-based theology, or law alone. Dr. David Tiede addressed this briefly in the journal Word and World in 1984:
Matthew 6:24-34: This glimpse of the good life has caught the attention of anxious,
stressed, compulsive, and fearful people throughout the ages. Even as general counsel to “take it easy” it would probably be medically sound for most people. But more is at stake than the
commendation of a laid back lifestyle. The profound assurance of the heavenly Father’s care is
central to this counsel, and the quest of God’s kingdom and righteousness indicate how these
gentle words are related to the rest of the Sermon. In declaring and describing this undergirding reality of grace, Jesus has gone beyond exposing our desperate anxieties. The eschatological dominion of God has already been revealed, and neither depth of hell nor height of heaven can contain the extent of God’s grace. “Do not be anxious” is thus not simply one more command which anxiety-ridden people may now struggle to achieve. The double bind of struggling to master such a command is well known by anyone who has endured medical treatment. But this is a declaration filled with a promise. The righteousness and kingdom of God are already disclosed and imparted in Jesus, and the invitation to trust is as secure as the authority of the Proclaimer himself.
2. Text: Matthew 6:24-34
NRSV:
24“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
GREEK:
24ουδεις δυναται δυσι κυριοις δουλευειν: η γαρ τον ενα μισησει και τον ετερον αγαπησει, η ενος ανθεξεται και του ετερου καταφρονησει: ου δυνασθε θεω δουλευειν και μαμωνα.
25δια τουτο λεγω υμιν, μη μεριμνατε τη ψυχη υμων τι φαγητε [η τι πιητε,] μηδε τω σωματι υμων τι ενδυσησθε: ουχι η ψυχη πλειον εστιν της τροφης και το σωμα του ενδυματος;
26εμβλεψατε εις τα πετεινα του ουρανου οτι ου σπειρουσιν ουδε θεριζουσιν ουδε συναγουσιν εις αποθηκας, και ο πατηρ υμων ο ουρανιος τρεφει αυτα: ουχ υμεις μαλλον διαφερετε αυτων;
27τις δε εξ υμων μεριμνων δυναται προσθειναι επι την ηλικιαν αυτου πηχυν ενα;
28και περι ενδυματος τι μεριμνατε; καταμαθετε τα κρινα του αγρου πως αυξανουσιν: ου κοπιωσιν ουδε νηθουσιν:
29λεγω δε υμιν οτι ουδε σολομων εν παση τη δοξη αυτου περιεβαλετο ως εν τουτων.
30ει δε τον χορτον του αγρου σημερον οντα και αυριον εις κλιβανον βαλλομενον ο θεος ουτως αμφιεννυσιν, ου πολλω μαλλον υμας, ολιγοπιστοι;
31μη ουν μεριμνησητε λεγοντες, τι φαγωμεν; η, τι πιωμεν; η, τι περιβαλωμεθα;
32παντα γαρ ταυτα τα εθνη επιζητουσιν: οιδεν γαρ ο πατηρ υμων ο ουρανιος οτι χρηζετε τουτων απαντων.
33ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν [του θεου] και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου, και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν.
34μη ουν μεριμνησητε εις την αυριον, η γαρ αυριον μεριμνησει εαυτης: αρκετον τη ημερα η κακια αυτης.
Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland XXVIth edition © 1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart;
3. Analysis: Matthew 6:24-34
William T. Cavanaugh’s theological focus has clearly been on the contrast between worldly wealth and the Real Presence of the tortured and risen Christ in the Eucharist. (On these two points, see especially his books Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ: Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Blackwell, 1998), and Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Eerdmans, 2008). An article he wrote for Concilium also combined these two focal points:
Consumption, the Market, and the Eucharist
by William T. Cavanaugh
William T. Cavanaugh is a professor of Theology at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Among his numerous publications are the books Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ (Challenges in Contemporary Theology and Theopolitical Imagination: Christian Practices of Space and Time.
There was a woman named Rosalinda with whom I attended Sunday mass when I lived in Chile in the 1980s. Rosalinda lived in a small wooden shanty with her elderly mother. Their income, which sufficed for little more than bread and tea, was derived from the potholders and other items that Rosalinda crocheted and sold at the local market. On one of my first visits to her home, Rosalinda gave me a little crocheted bird that is used for grasping the handles of hot tea kettles. When Rosalinda presented it to me as I was leaving her home, my first impulse was to reach into my pocket and give her some money for it. But I sensed that that would have been the wrong thing to do.
The little blue-green bird with a white fringe currently adorns the rice container on my kitchen counter. I live with my wife and kids a world away from Santiago in St. Paul, Minnesota. We live our lives at the intersection of two stories about the world: the Eucharist and the market. Both tell stories of hunger and consumption, of exchanges and gifts. The stories both overlap and compete. I will try to tell these two stories briefly, and reflect on what they mean for Rosalinda and the bird.
I. Hunger and the market
Economics, we are told, is the science which studies the allocation of resources under conditions of scarcity. The very basis of the market, trade – giving up something to get something else – assumes scarcity. Resources are scarce wherever the desires of all persons for goods or services cannot be met. Hunger, in other words, is written into the conditions under which economics operates. There is never enough to go around. But it is not simply the hunger of those who lack sufficient food to keep their bodies in good health. Scarcity is the more general hunger of those who want more, without reference to what they already have. Economics will always be the science of scarcity as long as individuals continue to want. And we are told that human desires are endless.
This insight about desire is not new. For St. Augustine, the constant renewing of desire is a condition of being creatures in time. Desire is not simply negative; our desires are what get us out of bed in the morning. We desire because we live. The problem is that our desires continue to light on objects which fail to satisfy, objects on the lower end of the scale of being which, if cut off from the Source of their being, quickly dissolve into nothing.1 The solution to the restlessness of desire is to cultivate a desire for God, the eternal. Augustine famously prays to God that “our heart is restless until it rests in you.”2
In a consumer-driven market economy, the restlessness of desire is also recognized. Marketing constantly seeks to meet, create, and stoke new desires, often by highlighting a sense of dissatisfaction with what one presently has and is. In a consumer culture, we recognize the validity of Augustine’s insight: particular material things cannot satisfy. Rather than causing us to turn away from material things and towards God, however, in consumer culture we plunge ever more deeply into the world of things. Dissatisfaction and fulfillment cease to be opposites, for pleasure is not in possessing objects but in their pursuit. Possession kills eros; familiarity breeds contempt. This is why shopping itself has taken on the honored status of an addiction in Western society. It is not the desire for any thing in particular, but the pleasure of stoking desire itself that makes malls into the new cathedrals of Western culture. The dynamic is not an inordinate attachment to material things, but an irony and detachment from all things. At the level of economics, scarcity is treated as a tragic inability to meet the needs of all people, especially those whom hunger and extreme deprivation confront daily with death. At the level of experience, scarcity in consumer culture is associated with the pleasurable sensation of desiring. Scarcity is implied in the daily erotics of desire that keeps the individual in pursuit of novelty.
For a number of reasons, desire in consumer society keeps us distracted from the desires of the truly hungry, those who experience hunger as life-threatening deprivation. It is not simply that the market encourages an erotic attraction toward things, not persons. It is that the market story establishes a fundamentally individualistic view of the human person. The idea of scarcity assumes that the normal condition for the communication of goods is by trade. To get something, one must relinquish something else. The idea of scarcity implies that goods are not held in common. The consumption of goods is essentially a private experience. This does not mean that charitable giving is forbidden, but it is relegated to the private realm of preference, not justice. One might always send a check to help feed the hungry. One’s charitable preferences, however, will always be in competition with one’s own endless desires. The idea of scarcity establishes the view that no one has enough. My desires to feed the hungry are always being distracted by the competition between their desires and my own.
Adam Smith thought that this distraction was a result of the fact that every person is “by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care.”3
Men, though naturally sympathetic, feel so little for another, with whom they have no particular connexion, in comparison of what they feel for themselves; the misery of one, who is merely their fellow-creature, is of so little importance to them in comparison even of a small conveniency of their own."4
In his Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith pondered the question of how disinterested moral judgments could ever trump self-interest. He developed the idea that pain and other sentiments are communicable from one individual to another by the ability of the human person sympathetically to put him or herself in the position of another. Nevertheless, according to Smith, nature has made our resentment to a lack of justice greater than our resentment to a lack of benevolence, so only the former is subject to punishment: “when a man shuts his breast against compassion, and refuses to relieve the misery of his fellow-creatures, when he can with the greatest ease… though everybody blames the conduct, nobody imagines that those who might have reason, perhaps, to expect more kindness, have any right to extort it by force.”5 Society can exist without benevolence, but not without justice.6 Absent explicit violence or theft, the inability of a person to feed him or herself is not a failure of justice, but a call for benevolence, which falls to individuals. The communicability of pain in the body of society is faint. Moral indignation in its strong form is reserved for explicit attacks on the status quo of life and property.
Adam Smith does not simply leave the care of the hungry to individual preference, however, for in the larger scheme of The Wealth of Nations, the needs of the hungry are addressed by the providential care of the market. According to Smith, the invisible hand of the market guides economic activity such that the pursuit of self-interest by uncoordinated individuals miraculously works out to the benefit of all. The great economic machine of society is driven by people’s wants. Through the mechanism of demand and supply, the competition of self-interested individuals will result in the production of the goods society wants, at the right prices, with sufficient employment for all at the right wages for the foreseeable future. The result is an eschatology in which abundance for all is just around the corner. In the contemporary consumer-driven economy, consumption is often urged as the solution to the suffering of others. Buy more to get the economy moving – more consumption means more jobs. By the miracle of the market, my consumption feeds you. One story the market tells, then, is that of scarcity miraculously turned into abundance by consumption itself, a contemporary loaves-and-fishes saga.
In reality, however, consumerism is the death of Christian eschatology. There can be no rupture with the status quo, no inbreaking Kingdom of God, but only endless superficial novelty. As Vincent Miller writes, “Since desire is sustained by being detached from particular objects, consumer anticipation wishes for everything and hopes for nothing.”7 The witness of the martyrs to living the Kingdom of God in the present becomes a curiosity; how could someone be so committed to some particular thing as to lose his life for it? We are moved by the suffering of others, but we can hardly imagine a change radical enough to undermine the paradigm of consumption. Even the suffering of others can become a spectacle and a consumable item8 – tsunamis sell newspapers. And so we choose to believe that, through the miracle of free competition, our consumption will feed others. The truth, however, is that self-interested consumption does not bring justice to the hungry. The consumer’s pursuit of low, low prices at Wal-Mart means low, low wages for the people in Asia who make the products we buy. Eschatological hope easily fades into resignation to a tragic world of scarcity.
II. Hunger and the Eucharist
The Eucharist tells another story about hunger and consumption. It does not begin with scarcity, but with the one who came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry’” (John 6:35). The insatiability of human desire is absorbed by the abundance of God’s grace in the gift of the body and blood of Christ. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life” (6:54), they are raised above mere temporal longing for novelty. And the body and blood of Christ are not scarce commodities; the host and the cup are multiplied daily at thousands of Eucharistic celebrations throughout the world. “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away” (6:37).
This invitation to come and be filled is assimilable to private spiritualities of self-fulfillment if it is packaged as an “experience” of divine life. But the abundance of the Eucharist is inseparable from the kenosis, the self-emptying, of the cross. The consumer of the body and blood of Christ does not remain detached from what he or she consumes, but becomes part of the Body. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (6:56). The act of consumption of the Eucharist does not entail the appropriation of goods for private use, but rather being assimilated to a public body, the Body of Christ. Augustine hears the voice of God say “I am the food of the fully grown; grow and you will feed on me. And you will not change me into you like the food your flesh eats, but you will be changed into me.”9 The Eucharist effects a radical decentering of the individual by incorporating the person into a larger body. In the process, the act of consumption is turned inside-out, such that the consumer is consumed.
When we consume the Eucharist, we become one with others, and share their fate. Paul asks the Corinthians “The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” Paul answers “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage, "because he said A SHARING IN THE BODY, and that which shares is different from what it shares in, he removed even this small difference. For after he said A SHARING IN THE BODY, he sought again to express it more precisely, and so he added FOR WE, THOUGH MANY, ARE ONE BREAD, ONE BODY. “For why am I speaking of sharing?” he says, “We are that very body.” For what is the bread? The body of Christ. And what do they become who partake of it? The body of Christ; not many bodies, but one body."10
The enacting of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist has a dramatic effect on the communicability of pain from one person to another, for individuals are now united in one body, connected by one nervous system. Not only can the eye not say to the hand “I have no need of you” (I Cor. 12:21), but the eye and the hand suffer or rejoice in the same fate. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26). For this reason, Paul tells the Corinthians that we should take special care for the weakest members of the body (12:22-25), presumably because the whole body is only as strong as its weakest member.
This communicability of pain underlies the obligation of the followers of Christ toward the hungry. The point of the story of final judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46 is not simply that an individual performing good deeds -- such as feeding the hungry -- will be rewarded with a ticket to the Kingdom. The force of the story lies in the identification of Christ with the hungry: “for I was hungry and you gave me food” (25:35). The pain of the hungry person is the pain of Christ, and it is therefore also the pain of the member of Christ’s body who feeds the hungry person. Unlike in Adam Smith, there is no priority of justice to charity here, no prior sorting out of who deserves what before benevolence can take place. In Matthew as in Paul, the hungry and the benevolent are confused in Christ, such that distinctions between justice and charity, public and private, become impediments to seeing reality as God sees it.
Adam Smith’s economy underwrites a separation between contractual exchanges and gifts. Benevolence is a free suspension of self-interested exchange. As such, benevolence cannot be expected or even encouraged on the public level, because the market functions for the good of all on the basis of self-interested consumption and production. Benevolent giving freely transfers property from one to another, but nevertheless respects the boundaries between what is mine and what is yours. In the Eucharistic economy, by contrast, the gift relativizes the boundaries between what is mine and what is yours by relativizing the boundary between me and you. We are no longer two individuals encountering each other either by way of contract or as active giver and passive recipient. Without losing our identities as unique persons – Paul’s analogy of the body extols the diversity of eyes and hands, heads and feet – we cease to be merely other to one another by incorporation into the Body of Christ. In the Eucharist, Christ is gift, giver, and recipient. We are neither merely active nor passive, but participate in the divine life, such that we are fed and simultaneously become food for others.
Our temptation is to spiritualize all this talk of union, to make our connection to the hungry a mystical act of imaginative sympathy. We could then imagine that we are already in communion with those who lack food, whether or not we meet their needs. Matthew is having none of this, placing of the obligation to feed the hungry in the context of eschatological judgment. Paul too places neglect of the hungry in the context of judgment. At the Eucharistic celebration in Corinth, which included a common meal, those who eat while others go hungry “show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing” (I Cor. 11:22). Those who thus, in an “unworthy manner,” partake of the body and blood of Christ “eat and drink judgment against themselves” (11:27. 29). Those of us who partake in the Eucharist while ignoring the hungry may be eating and drinking our own damnation.
The Eucharist places judgment in the eschatological context of God’s inbreaking Kingdom. There is no gradual immanent progress toward abundance which the market, driven by our consumption, is always about to -- but never actually does -- bring about. The Eucharist announces the coming of the Kingdom of God now, already in the present, by the grace of God. Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium affirms the eschatological dimension of the Eucharist in these terms: "In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims..."11 In the Eucharist, God breaks in and disrupts the tragic despair of human history with a message of hope and a demand for justice. The hungry cannot wait; the heavenly feast is now. The end-less consumption of superficial novelty is broken by the promise of an end, the Kingdom toward which history is moving and which is already breaking into history. The Kingdom is not driven by our desires, but by God’s desire, which we receive as gift in the Eucharist.
I think I have an idea now of why it would have been wrong to give Rosalinda money for the bird. It would have annulled the gift and turned it into an exchange. It would have re-established the boundaries between what is hers and what is mine, and therefore reinforced the boundaries between her and me. The Eucharist tells a different story about who we -- the hungry and the filled -- really are, and where we are going.
Endnotes
1. Augustine, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 29-30 [Book II, §10].
2. Ibid., 3 [Book I, §1].
3. Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. A.L. Macfie and D. D. Raphael (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), 82 [II.ii.2.1].
4. Ibid., 86 [II.ii.3.4].
5. Ibid., 81 [II.ii.1.7].
6. Ibid., 85-91 [II.ii.3].
7. Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum Books, 2003), 132.
8. See ibid., 133-4.
9. Augustine, 124 [Book VII, §16].
10. St. John Chrysostom, Homily on I Corinthians, no. 24 in The Eucharist: Message of the Fathers of the Church, ed. Daniel J. Sheerin (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1986), 210.
11. Sacrosanctum Concilium 8, in Documents of Vatican II, Austin P. Flannery, ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975), 5.
© Concilium. Erasmusplein 1 | 6525 HT Nijmegen | The Netherlands
4. Srategy: Matthew 6:24-34
As already noted, a challenging resource person for thinking about matters of abundance and consumption is the Catholic moralist, William T. Cavanaugh. What follows below is an article he wrote for SOJOURNERS magazine, which demonstrates a fruitful way of reflecting upon, preaching toward, or warning about the perils of abundance in a world of globalization, scarcity, lifeboat ethics, poverty, “The Tragedy of the Commons” , the Credit Crunch of 2007/8, and the global Food Crisis
Predicted in The Economist (“End of Cheap Food, “ Dec. 6, 2007, WEB: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10252015 ).
When Enough is Enough
Why God's abundant life won't fit in a shopping cart,
and other mysteries of consumerism.
by William T. Cavanaugh
The contrast between consumerism and simple living at first glance seems fairly straightforward: Consumerism is about having more stuff, simple living is about having less stuff. Consumerism seems to be a permutation of the age-old vice of avarice, whose "special malice," says the Catholic Encyclopedia, "lies in that it makes the getting and keeping of money, possessions, and the like a purpose in itself to live for." As the old vitamin commercial from the ’80s so bluntly put it, "I want MORE for ME."
Avarice, however, does not really exhaust the phenomenon of consumerism. Consumerism is not so much about having more as it is about having something else. It is not buying but shopping that captures the spirit of consumerism. Buying is certainly an important part of consumerism, but buying brings a temporary halt to the restlessness that typifies it. It is this restlessness—the moving on to shopping for something else no matter what one has just purchased—that sets the spiritual tone for consumerism.
In the Christian tradition we are accustomed to thinking that the greatest temptation associated with material things is an inordinate attachment to them. Since biblical times and before, some people have accumulated great stores of wealth, and the Bible is often quite severe in its judgment of them. When we hear that the "love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10), and that the "poor in spirit" are blessed (Matthew 5:3), we resolve to cultivate an attitude of detachment from the material things we have. The problem is that consumerism is already a spiritual discipline of detachment, though one with a very different way of operating than classical Christian asceticism.
What marks consumerism as something new is its tendency to reduce everything, both the material and the spiritual, to a commodity able to be exchanged. Things that no other culture ever thought could be bought and sold—water, genetic codes, names (Tostitos Fiesta Bowl), human blood, the rights to emit pollutants into the air—are now routinely offered on the market. The recent story of the Nebraska man who auctioned off advertising space on his forehead is only the latest example of the commodification of everything. This story is not so much a lesson about greed—his forehead was apparently not big enough to garner bids for more than a few hundred dollars—as a statement about the extent to which we are able to become detached from even those things, like our foreheads, to which we are most obviously attached. We stand back from our bodies, faiths, vocations. Our very identity is something to be tried on, chosen, bought, sold, and discarded at will.
The satisfying nature of dissatisfaction. Consumerism is a spiritual attitude that is deeply entangled with changes since the Industrial Revolution in the way goods are produced. In pre-industrial society, the home was a place not merely of consumption but of production. Most people lived on farms and made the majority of the goods that they needed. Starting with the enclosure of common lands in England and elsewhere in Europe, the bulk of the population was moved away from subsistence farming and into factory labor. Cottage industries were wiped away by the production of cheap goods from mechanized factories, compelling people to enter the market as wage laborers.
With the relentless pressures on the family farm that continue today, the home as a site of significant production has all but disappeared. We make almost nothing of what we consume. The process of globalization has accelerated this detachment from production. Fewer and fewer of us have any idea what factory work is like, since manufacturing jobs are more and more being transferred overseas. Nor do we have much more than a vague idea of the wages or working conditions of the workers who make what we buy.
There are two significant results to these historical shifts. First, many people have become detached from their labor, seeing work not as a creative vocation but as a commodity to be sold in exchange for wages. Part of our very selves and the impress we make on the world is commodified. Second, our connection to things has become very tenuous. We know almost nothing about how products are made and how they end up in our shopping cart. The bananas we meet in the grocery story refuse to tell us how they ended up in Minnesota in the dead of winter. We eat cows without ever having been near more than a few pounds of beef flesh at any one time. We simply pull products off the shelves, dump them in our carts, and keep shopping.
Detached from their origins in human work and the networks of human community, commodities take on a life of their own. In the moment of encounter between product and consumer, the connection to other people and places falls away. The consumer has little or no connection to the producer, and more than likely has little connection to the seller either, since most local stores have been replaced by giant, impersonal chain stores. The relationship of consumption has been reduced to the bare encounter of consumer and thing, with nothing to connect the two except the utility of the product to the consumer.
The story does not end with the detachment of consumers from production and from things, however, for alienation and detachment do not explain the appeal of consumerism. If the consumer and the inert thing were left staring at each other across the store aisle, consumption would not keep pace with production. The product must be made to sing and dance and create a new kind of relationship between itself and the consumer.
Histories of marketing commonly trace the rise of mass advertising to the need to create mass consumption in the wake of industrialization. Factories were capable of producing goods at a heretofore unimaginable rate. The value of manufactured goods increased more than sixfold during the last four decades of the 19th century. Markets had to be created for all those products. People had to be trained to act as consumers, to be attracted to items to which they had no natural connection. Marketers began talking about "building relationships" between consumers and products. The catch is that these relationships could not be too durable or, once again, the pace of consumption would not keep up with the pace of production. People could not become too content or attached to products; desire had to be kept on the move. So began what the marketing department of General Motors—in a reference to changing car models every year—once called "the organized creation of dissatisfaction."
What has happened in consumer society is that dissatisfaction and satisfaction have ceased to be opposites. Pleasure resides not in having but in wanting. Insofar as an item obtained brings a temporary halt to desire, it becomes undesirable. This is why shopping, not buying, captures the spirit of consumerism, and why shopaholism is being treated as an addiction. Consumerism is a restless spirit, constantly in search of something new. Consumerism is typified by detachment, not attachment, for desire must be kept on the move. Consumerism is also typified by scarcity, not abundance, for as long as desire is endless, there will never be enough stuff to go around.
Being consumed. If detachment is the problem, should the Christian respond with greater attachment to material things? Not exactly. St. Augustine famously prayed to God "our heart is restless until it rests in you." Augustine knew that mere created things fall far short of the glory of God, such that ultimate satisfaction can never be found in created things on their own. Nevertheless, created things are good because they participate in the goodness of their creator. They contain vestiges of the Creator in them, vestiges that ought to lead us beyond the things themselves to the source of their being.
In this spiritual universe there is no such thing as an isolated commodity confronting an isolated individual. All created things sing and dance and shout of the glory of God. People and things are united in one great web of being, flowing from and returning to their Creator. Our dissatisfaction with things does not lead us endlessly on to the next thing but to our true end in God. The Christian view elevates the dignity of things by seeing them as participating in the being of God, but simultaneously causes us to look through and beyond things to their Creator.
Participation in this great web of created being informs the way that Christians view production. Work is not simply a means to gaining money so that we may consume. Work establishes an intimacy with God’s creation, so that we become, as Pope John Paul II reminds us, "co-creators" with God in our work. Participation in God also informs how we view one another. Human persons are not only connected to things but to other persons. We are all made in the image of God, and all made to participate in the body of Christ. Such is our close connection that we share the same sufferings and the same joys (1 Corinthians 12:26). It is as impossible to ignore sweatshop labor as it is to ignore pain in our own bodies.
In the Christian view, we do not stand apart from the rest of creation as individuals, appropriating, consuming, and discarding. We are rather consumed, as it were, by something larger than us. When we consume the body of Christ at the Lord’s table, we are in fact consumed by the larger body, the church. Augustine hears Christ’s voice say, "Grow and you will feed on me. And you will not change me into you like the food your flesh eats, but you will be changed into me." At the communion table, the act of consumption is turned inside out, such that in eating we become food for others. True consumption, in the Christian understanding, is thus a kind of self-emptying, a decentering of the self into a larger web of participation. Thus Jesus connects the "abundant life" in John 10:10 to laying down one’s life in 10:11. True abundance is never realized by the competition of insatiable desires for scarce goods. It is realized by emptying the small self into the larger reality of God’s superabundant life.
The Christian task in a consumer society, then, is to create economic spaces that underscore our spiritual and physical connection to creation and to each other. We must strive to demystify commodities by being informed about where they come from, who makes them, and under what conditions. We should support products, such as fair-trade coffee, that pull back the veil from the production process and offer a sustainable life to their producers. We should attempt to create local, face-to-face economies, where consumers and producers know each other well enough that their interests tend to merge. My parish’s connection to a local cooperative of family farms (www.wholefarmcoop.com) is a hopeful example.
Finally, we should attempt to close the gap between work and consumption by supporting worker ownership of the means of production. The first step toward doing so is turning our homes back into sites of production. To bake bread, to make our own entertainment, and do so in community with others: These are small but important steps in turning from consumers to celebrants of God’s abundant life.
William T. Cavanaugh was associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and author most recently of Theopolitical Imagination (T. & T. Clark) when this article appeared.
5. Further Reading: Matthew 6:24-34
James H. Burtness, “Life-Style and Law: Some Reflections on Matthew 5:17,” dialog 14 (1975) 13-20.
William T. Cavanaugh. Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ: Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Blackwell, 1998).
William T. Cavanaugh. Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Eerdmans, 2008).
W. D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1964).
Jack Dean Kingsbury, “The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel and His Concept of Salvation-History,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 35 (1973) 451-474.
Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew (Atlanta: John Knox, 1975).
David L. Tiede. "Matthew 6:24-34, The 8th Sunday after the Epiphany," Let Your Light Shine: The Sermon on the Mount in Epiphany, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, v. 4 n. 1: 1984.
6. Worship Suggestions: Matthew 6:24-34
Each and every celebration of the Eucharist is by definition a meet, right, and salutary occasion for exploring the deeper meaning of the Sermon on the Mount. But the Eucharist should NOT be used as an excuse for scolding Christians (or others) for the foibles and frailties of materialism, or their clinging to material things for security or a putative “pursuit of happiness” or what the people who write ad copy for Cadillac motors now call, simply enough, “The Pursuit!”
It would be a far better thing, as Prof. Cavanaugh does above, to reflect on one or more encounters between poverty and abundance, haves and have-nots, or between the tortured and risen Christ we encounter in the Eucharist as he is manifest in our actual, material world with all its human insecurities, grasping and grabbing, bribery and bullying. If one keeps one’s eye on the Gospel, it might be possible to do so without playing the “Marx card” or without merely playing up guilt feelings for a temporary session of flogging. Luther, with the help of Johann Staupitz, showed long ago the futility of such an approach. There are myriad hymns which address these themes. Some which might be especially apt fcor this Gospel pericope are:
‘Tis A Gift to be Simple” (Shaker Hymn)
“Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service” (ELW 712)
“God of Grace and God of Glory (ELW 705)
“Turn Back, O Man” (Old 124th, SBH 348)
Exegete: David A. Buehler | Providence College (RI)
Lexegete™ | Year A | Matthew
VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
May 31, 2008
1 Samuel 2:1-10 • Psalm 113 (2) • Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
1. CONTEXT: Luke 1:39-56
Mary's visit to Elizabeth follows the account of the annunciation of
Jesus' birth and artistically links the John the Baptist and Jesus cycles
together.
The MAGNIFICAT is a free composition modelled on Hannah's song (1
Samuel 2:1-10) and contains similar themes. There are many
reminiscences of the Old Testament, but unlike Zechariah's song, the
BENEDICTUS (1:68-79) it does not use LXX phrases. Hymnody of this sort
was written in the 1st century B.C., of which the Psalms of Solomon (circa
65-55 B.C.) are the examples most similar to the canticles in Luke. The
Qumran Hymns of Thanksgiving belong to the same genre but have the
peculiarities of the other Dead Sea Scrolls.
The sentiments of the MAGNIFICAT are revolutionary, although the
revolution is brought about by God alone. In Longfellow's poem, "King
Robert of Sicily," the king remarks, "'Tis well that such seditious words
were sung / only by priests and in the Latin tongue."
Luke thinks typologically; thus Hannah is the type of Mary--and John the
Baptist partly parallels Jesus. No one knows what sources Luke may have
used in writing chapters 1-2 but he composed them in a style imitating
the Septuagint. His picture of simple Jewish people who expected a
Davidic Messiah may partly describe actual non-Pharisaic Jews, but it is
an ideal, nostalgic portrait of the best of the piety of simple people. The
pericope is followed by the birth of John and by Zechariah's canticle.
1b. TEXT: Luke 1:39-56
NRSV:
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be* a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
Mary’s Song of Praise
46 And Mary* said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
56 And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.
The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
GREEK:
39αναστασα δε μαριαμ εν ταις ημεραις ταυταις επορευθη εις την ορεινην μετα σπουδης εις πολιν ιουδα,
40και εισηλθεν εις τον οικον ζαχαριου και ησπασατο την ελισαβετ. 41και εγενετο ως ηκουσεν τον ασπασμον της μαριας η ελισαβετ, εσκιρτησεν το βρεφος εν τη κοιλια αυτης, και επλησθη πνευματος αγιου η ελισαβετ,
42και ανεφωνησεν κραυγη μεγαλη και ειπεν, ευλογημενη συ εν γυναιξιν, και ευλογημενος ο καρπος της κοιλιας σου.
43και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς εμε; 44ιδου γαρ ως εγενετο η φωνη του ασπασμου σου εις τα ωτα μου, εσκιρτησεν εν αγαλλιασει το βρεφος εν τη κοιλια μου.
45και μακαρια η πιστευσασα οτι εσται τελειωσις τοις λελαλημενοις αυτη παρα κυριου.
46και ειπεν μαριαμ, μεγαλυνει η ψυχη μου τον κυριον,
47και ηγαλλιασεν το πνευμα μου επι τω θεω τω σωτηρι μου,
48οτι επεβλεψεν επι την ταπεινωσιν της δουλης αυτου. ιδου γαρ απο του νυν μακαριουσιν με πασαι αι γενεαι:
49οτι εποιησεν μοι μεγαλα ο δυνατος, και αγιον το ονομα αυτου,
50και το ελεος αυτου εις γενεας και γενεας τοις φοβουμενοις αυτον. 51εποιησεν κρατος εν βραχιονι αυτου, διεσκορπισεν υπερηφανους διανοια καρδιας αυτων:
52καθειλεν δυναστας απο θρονων και υψωσεν ταπεινους,
53πεινωντας ενεπλησεν αγαθων και πλουτουντας εξαπεστειλεν κενους. 54αντελαβετο ισραηλ παιδος αυτου, μνησθηναι ελεους,
55καθως ελαλησεν προς τους πατερας ημων, τω αβρααμ και τω σπερματι αυτου εις τον αιωνα.
56εμεινεν δε μαριαμ συν αυτη ως μηνας τρεις, και υπεστρεψεν εις τον οικον αυτης.
2. ANALYSIS: Luke 1:39-56
Luke 1:39 - oreinein - the hill country...Mary came from Nazareth and went
up into the central range. The traditional home of Zechariah and Elizabeth
is at Ein Karem, just west of Jerusalem.
Lk. 1:41 - kai epleisthe pneumatos hagiou - - Luke John the Baptist and
Jesus, Elizabeth is impelled by the Spirit.
Lk. 1:42 - Eulogeimenein - blessed; is almost synonomous with makaria in
verse 45, but the latter, here and in the Beatitudes, can perhaps better be
rendered as "happy;" it corresponds to the word in Psalm 1:1. This is,
however, a special kind of happiness such as the Greeks ascribed to their
gods.
Lk. 1:46 - Mariam - The variant Elisabet (see critical apparatus) is
interesting but not well attested, and verse 48f. applies better to Mary.
Lk. 1:47 - eigalliasen - "glad " - 1 Samuel 2:1-10 uses aorists also.
Lk. 1:48 - makariousin - cf. note on verse 42 - Here almost meaning
"congratulate."
Lk. 1:51-54 - The aorists epoieisen etc. suggest the Hebrew perfect tense.
These are prophecies of the future, but the thought is that if God has
decided on an action, it is as good as done already.
3. STRATEGY - Luke 1:39-56
The newer lectionaries, which read pericopes of the annunciation to
Joseph on Year A of this Sunday and to Mary on Year B, give the homilist
an opportunity to prepare for the Nativity in a more thorough fashion than
is possible on Christmas, particularly on Christmas Eve.
The visit to Elizabeth is charming in that it reminds one that the
Nativity is also a human story involving two happy women. Luke is
always sensitive to the interests of women; in chapters 1-2, Zechariah
and Joseph are only on the periphery.
The Magnificat inevitably recalls Hannah and the birth of Samuel who
was a little boy prophet and later became a king-maker and the judge of
kings. Jesus is born into a family which had messianic expectations. The
might will be put down and the humble exalted. Humanly speaking, it is
significant that he grew to maturity in such a household. The passage
from Micah 5:2-4 fits well with this, because it expects a Messiah from
Bethlehem who would shepherd the people of Israel.
Hebrews 10:5-10 is well chosen for this Sunday. The sacrificial
system in which Zechariah served with such awe and joy, and which was
good as far as it went, has been superseded by a better system in which
Jesus the high priest comes simply to do the will of God. In this he is like
his mother Mary (1:38) who, as Raymond Brown points out in his masterful
study THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH, is the model of Christian discipleship.
The gospel reading is another example of the reversal of roles which
runs throughout the gospel story. The mighty are put down and the gentle
and humble are exalted. The bad priesthood of the sons of Eli resulted in
disaster for Israel, but Samuel was instrumental in restoring the nation's
fortunes. The potentates of Jesus' time, mentioned on Advent 2, came to
bad ends or at least to an evil historical reputation. There were no more
obscure women than Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary, but they were the mothers
of sons whom all generations have glorified!
4. REFERENCES: Luke 1:39-56
Brown, Raymond E. THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH. Garden City: Doubleday,
1977, pp. 330-366.
5. MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Luke 1:39-56
Hymns that would be well suited for this Advent celebration day are:
COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS (LBW 30, HB 66); WAKE, AWAKE
(Wachet Auf, LBW 31, HB 61/2); THE KING SHALL COME (LBW 33, HB 73);
CREATOR OF THE STARS OF NIGHT (HB 60); HARK! THE GLAD SOUND (LBW 35,
HB 71/2); and, especially if the sermon is on Mary, LO,HOW A ROSE E'ER
BLOOMING (LBW 58, HB 81).
Exegete - Sherman E. Johnson, PhD, STD †
6. FURTHER READING
In his article, "Words at the Solstice: Four Theses and Eight Christmas
Greetings," [ dialog, vol. 21] liturgical scholar Gordon Lathrop shared a
number of thought-provoking insights into the liturgical significance of
Advent, Christmas and Solstice. Among these was the interesting
observation that the littleness and humility of Christ's nativity, the theme
of the cross, is at the heart of the season. It was most evident in
medieval liturgies in what Durandus called in the post-Christmass feasts
of the "companions of Christ," or COMITES CHRISTI.
Thus we mourn and rejoice at once over the ADMIRABILE COMMERCIUM,
the astonishing reversal through which our down-troddeness, our
awareness of suffering, (do we see it") is exchanged for his joy.
Hence the commemoration of the first martyr Stephen on December 26th,
the Apostle and Evangelist John on December 27th, and the victims of
Herod (i.e., Holy Innocents) on December 28th. Of course, for preaching
this text at the end of May, Memorial Day comes closer to the mood of the
passage!
To best set the mood of this text, LEXEGETE recommends that invaluable
liturgical handbook for this season which has been published by the
Archdiocese of Chicago,IL.
Entitled A CHRISTMAS SOURCEBOOK, edited by Mary Ann Simcoe, Chicago:
Liturgy Training Publications, 1984), it is an invaluable tool for preparing
not only one's mind but also one's heart and tuning one's liturgical
sensitivity seasons of birth and re-birth. The 158-page volume is filled
with wonderful examples of poetry and prose and prayer for the Incarnational
liturgical cycle of the church year (there is also a sourcebook for the
Triduum cycle, edited by M. Simcoe and Gabe Huck). In particular the
section on Mary, Mother of God, gives a refreshing look at the place of
Mary in the history of salvation, and even in an anonymous verse of 15th
Century English poetry:
Moder (mother) and mayden
was never none but she:
Well may such a lady
Goddes mother be.
The Christmas Sourcebook is highly recommended for poets, pastors and
preachers everywhere. The best source that Tischrede Software has found
for this and related books, cards, calendars, posters and prints on ritual,
religion, feasts and seasons remains from year to year the small family
mail-order business of Tom and Susan Cahill. Formerly (but no longer)
known as Cahill & Co., the Cahills dropped that label to later go by
the name of THE BOOKPERSON. For a copy of their interesting newsletter,
tell them you heard about it in LEXEGETE and drop them a line at:
The Bookperson [at the sign of the 3 Candles]
135 East 96th Street
New York, New York 10128
Among other things, you’d verify for me if they still exist!
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