INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
25th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PROPER 26 ORDINARY 31
OCTOBER 30, 2011
JOSHUA 3:7-17. The Book of Joshua narrates the story of Moses’ successor, Joshua, leading the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan, dividing it among the twelve tribes and renewing their covenant with God. This passage is a sacred legend of how the Israelites crossed the Jordan River following the ark of the covenant bearing the stones inscribed with the commandments. It is patterned after the story of Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea.
The legend was adapted as the basis for a well-known spiritual sung by American slaves, “One More River to Cross.” The story spoke to the slaves of the hope for freedom in a new land. Some believe that it referred to either the Niagara or the Detroit Rivers where escaped slaves following the “underground railway” had to cross into freedom in Canada.
PSALM 107:1-7, 33-37. This is the first psalm in the last of five parts into which the Book of Psalms is divided. It may in fact be two psalms combined in one at an early stage of editing. As it now stands it is a beautiful thanksgiving litany.
MICAH 3:5-12. [Alternate] Micah holds an important place in Old Testament prophecy. He lived in the late 8th century BCE when Assyria threatened the existence of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His prophecies declared uncompromising justice as God’s sole interest at a time when more popular prophetic voices sought to please their political masters and accepted bribes for doing so.
PSALM 43. [Alternate] This lament is usually regarded as the conclusion to Ps. 42, as it appears in the Hebrew Scriptures. It appeals for God’s help in defense against ungodly opponents. As customary with laments, it ends with a vow committing the psalmist to worship faithfully and expresses hope for ultimate deliverance from his trials.
1 THESSALONIANS 2:9-13. There seems to be a note of self-justification in this brief passage, as if Paul was both grateful yet unsure of how he was received by the Thessalonians. He is reassured, however, that they did accept his preaching of the gospel as God’s word.
MATTHEW 23:1-12. In this chapter Matthew presents Jesus delivering a severe tongue-lashing to the scribes and Pharisees, the strictest of many religious parties in Israel at that time. In reading it we must keep in mind that at first converts to the apostolic church had been exclusively Jewish. When Matthew’s Gospel was written about 85 AD, Christian communities were in conflict with Jews. After the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, the synagogues were dominated by the Pharisees. Identifying Jesus as the Messiah and the inclusion of Gentiles in the early church was anathema to them. The passage may reflect that period of bitter conflict more than the attitude of Jesus himself. Nonetheless, Jesus had rebuked anyone who showed false piety. The passage ends with his call to service as true faithfulness.
A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.
JOSHUA 3:7-17. No one can fail to note the difference between the first five books of the OT known as the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua which begins what the Hebrew tradition called “the Former Prophets” (Joshua, Judges. I & II Samuel, I & II Kings) and some Christian scholars have designated as “the Histories.” The Book of Joshua narrates the story of Moses’ successor, Joshua, leading the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan, dividing it among the twelve tribes, and renewing the Covenant with Yahweh. These three elements are found in quite distinctive segments, each with its own special characteristics: the invasion and occupation (chs. 1-12); the apportionment of Promised Land among the twelve tribes of Israel (chs. 13-21); the renewal of the Covenant (chs. 22-24).
The whole work bears the marks of Deuteronomic editors. It is believed that its final composition took place during the Babylonian captivity either in Babylon or Judea although earlier editions and oral traditions certainly preceded this final work. The book is not “history” as we understand that term today. Rather, it is history seen through eyes of faith from a distinctive theological point of view.
This passage tells the sacred legend of how the Israelites crossed the Jordan River following the Ark of the Covenant. The story follows the pattern of Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. The ark contained the stones inscribed with the commandments given to Moses and was carried by Levitical priests (3:3). As the priests entered the water of the Jordan, the river’s flow stopped and backed up as if behind a dam (vs. 13). This phenomenon attributed to divine intervention has been known in modern times to have had natural causes. In 1927 a landslide caused by an earthquake blocked the Jordan River for more than 27 hours.
According to the story also, the crossing of the river was to take place during the harvest when the river was in flood. In the lower Jordan valley, this occurs in April at the height of the spring run-off of melting snow at the sources of the Jordan on Mount Lebanon far to the north. While the whole twelve tribes made their way across on dry ground, the ark remained in the middle of the river bed.
The point of the story is the claim of faith in vs. 10: “By this you shall know that among you is the living God ….” Do we see the events of our time, however caused, in a similar light from the viewpoint of faith? Do apparently remarkable victories or devastating tragedies in our contemporary world have inspirational components? Did televised scenes of disabled children and women from the war zone of Angola move so many nations to ban personnel land mines? Without such an attitude would the conscience of the world have been awakened by the massacres of so many innocent victims of civil wars in Rwanda and Somalia? Can this theological principle be applied to the current struggles in Afghanistan and Iraq? Or should it be applied to current events at all?
PSALM 107:1-7, 33-37. This is the first psalm in the last of five parts into which the Book of Psalms is divided. It may in fact be two psalms combined in one at an early stage of editing. As it now stands it is a beautiful thanksgiving litany. Regardless of its source in the Hebrew Scriptures, it stands on its own as one of the great pieces of poetry in any literature of the world. A collection of English poetry for use as an Ontario public school text once included the KJV rendering of a significant excerpt from it.
The first segment of this reading expresses gratitude for Yahweh’s steadfast love, universal redemption and providential help in extreme distress (vss.1-9). The same theme carries through the whole poem in ever more specific detail with many illusions to Israel’s historic pilgrimage from Egypt to the Promised Land. Throughout the whole poem there is a compelling, antiphonal refrain, “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.” (NRSV vss. 8, 15, 21, 31)
Each time this refrain has a different secondary element which appears to draw ever closer to the ritual ceremonies in the temple (vss. 9, 16, 22, 32) for which this was almost certainly a thanksgiving litany. The fact that this refrain does not occur in vss. 33-43 has caused some scholars to distinguish this latter segment (not included in this reading) as a second, didactic psalm even though it too celebrates the unpredictable providence and special concern of Yahweh for the poor and needy.
The poem bears the unmistakable marks of the prophetic message of Second Isaiah. It probably dates from the Persian period (539-330 BCE) or even the Hellenistic age (330-65 BCE) when the liturgies of the temple had been developed to a high degree with litanies such as this. It still carries a potent message for our own times when the poor of the world are fleeing to our very doorstep while the resources of the world are being consumed so unequally by the most highly developed countries like our own.
MICAH 3:5-12. [Alternate] Micah, of whom little is known other than that he was a rural Judean, holds an important place in Old Testament prophecy. He lived in the late 8th century BCE when Assyria threatened the existence of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His prophecies declared uncompromising justice as God’s sole interest at a time when more popular prophetic voices sought to please their political masters and accepted bribes for doing so.
Power has a strange way of attracting popular support by means of solicitous propaganda. We confront this every day, even in the most democratic societies, giving it the curious name of “spin.” As this passage points out so graphically, ancient Israel had its spin doctors too. They were called false prophets who sought favours by saying what their political masters wanted to hear.
The challenges of Micah’s prophecies were decidedly different than those desired by Israel’s leaders. In an era of great political and religious corruption and compromise, faithful Israelites had to struggle to maintain the purity of their faith tradition rooted in the justice and righteousness of Yahweh that required faithful obedience to the Covenant.
A growing gap between rich and poor characterized the age of Micah’s contrarian prophecies. Naturally, the rich and powerful sought to continue the comforts they enjoyed no matter how much it violated the nation’s religious heritage or whatever the cost to those less powerful than they. They found plenty of favourable support in the twisted prophecies of those whom they could bribe. At the same time they worshipped hypocritically believing that they were safe in God’s providential care (vs. 11).
PSALM 43. [Alternate] Usually regarded as the conclusion to Ps. 42, as it appears in the Hebrew, this lament calls for Yahweh’s help in defense against ungodly opponents. As customary with laments, it ends with a vow committing the psalmist to worship faithfully and expresses hope for ultimate deliverance from his trials.
Like the prophecy of Micah above, it appeals for divine justice. As such it appropriately fills the role in Christian liturgics of the psalm as serving an antiphon or response to reinforce the message of the Old Testament lesson. In this instance, the psalmist’s attitude ascends from that of a sufferer from wounds in body and soul (cf. 42:10) who has experienced severe persecution to one of trust and confidence.
The psalmist may have been thinking of the angelic figures, the cherubim, believed to flank or support the throne of Yahweh and serve as guardians of the ark. He regarded them as reflecting God’s light and truth. So he asked that they lead him to the very presence of Yahweh. For Jews of that time, the temple on the holy hill of Jerusalem represented the divine presence. There the psalmist vowed to offer praise accompanied by an ancient musical instrument, the lyre. His despair turned to hope and trust in Yahweh’s providential care.
1 THESSALONIANS 2:9-13. We can never know the exact circumstances of Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica to which he makes reference in this brief passage. The passage seems to contain a certain note of self-justification, as if Paul was both grateful yet unsure of how he and his fellow Christian missionaries had been received by the Thessalonians. He also voiced genuine concern that these new Christians might not be able to withstand the persecution to which they were being subjected.
On the surface, it would appear that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy has been criticized or falsely accused of malingering and living off the generosity of the Christian community. Paul protests that they “had worked night and day, so that they might not burden any of you.” This may refer to Paul’s tent-making ministry, something he could have carried on very easily in this important seaport city.
Thessalonica had a dubious reputation due to being capital of a Roman province and a major commercial centre on the main highway between Rome and its eastern provinces. As in many cities in the Roman Empire, the Jewish community there was of considerable size and influence. The brief account of the mission given in Acts 17:1-9 suggests that the antagonism, especially from some of the Jews, had been so severe as to incite a riot in the marketplace. It is also possible that if employment opportunities had been uncertain at that time, the arrival of three strangers who took jobs from some of the local folk had confused public perception of their mission.
Paul and his companions had been forced to flee the city by night in order to protect their friends in Christian community who had given them shelter. It would also appear from the tenor of vs. 10 that charges of immoral behavior had been leveled against the missionaries. This Paul refuted as forcefully as he could by appealing to the Thessalonian community’s memories of their genuine care for and encouragement of them in the Christian life (vss. 11-12). In vs. 13 Paul expressed some reassurance that they did accept his preaching as God’s word and not mere human manipulation.
The accusation leveled against the apostles in Acts 17:6 contains a memorable text on which innumerable sermons have been preached. While expressing genuine concern for those whom he had persuaded to follow the new way despite victimization by their opponents, Paul reiterated that same theme: The Christian gospel and the way of discipleship following from it “turns the whole world upside down.” It still does for those who accept the challenge, as we are made aware in the public media almost every day whenever the Christian gospel challenges powerful interests and contemporary standards of behaviour.
MATTHEW 23:1-12. This chapter presents Jesus delivering a severe tongue-lashing to the scribes and Pharisees, the strictest of many parties in Israel at that time. In reading it we must keep in mind that at first the apostolic church had been exclusively Jewish. Matthew’s Gospel was written about 85 CE when Christians were in conflict with Jews about identifying Jesus as the Messiah and the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. The passage may reflect that period of bitter conflict more than the attitude of Jesus himself. The kernel of Jesus’ own thought may be no more than that recorded in vs. 11 and possibly also vs. 12.
Nonetheless, Matthew quotes Jesus as rebuking anyone who showed false piety. The tradition found in all the gospels clearly points to this being very much the mind of Jesus as the apostolic church knew it. The Pharisees had interpreted the will of God as the minute details of the law and the tradition of the elders. In the 2nd century these interpretative teachings were written down in a collection known as the Mishnah, still influential in Jewish religious teaching today. Matthew represented Jesus as advocating rigorous adherence to the essentials of the law (cf. Matt. 5:18). Yet he also defined Jesus’ major messianic function as reinterpreting the law as a sincere and unequivocal expression of love for God and neighbour. This tension surfaces very plainly in this passage.
Specifically, Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their public show of religious fervour without doing what God required of them. The example he gave of this hypocrisy was their desire “to sit on Moses’ seat.” This was a seat of honour in the synagogue close to the arch where the scrolls of the Torah were kept. Whoever sat there was recognized as having the authority to teach. Similarly, they also wore fine garments carefully designed according to the prescription of Numbers 15:37-39, and they sought preferential places at banquets and in synagogues symbolizing their importance as teachers of the law.
The instructions given to Christian disciples, whether by Jesus himself or by the author of the gospel speaking to his own community, stand in stark contrast to the hypocritical actions of the Pharisees (vss. 8-10). The recommended behavior for Christian disciples recalls the stinging prophecy of Micah 6:6-8 condemning the sacrificial ritualism of the temple several centuries earlier. Humility like that of a servant was required of all.
SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES.
THE RELIGIOUS ROOTS OF HALLOWE’EN
When we go into a store decorated with all its ghosts, skeletons, witches and goblins it is difficult to imagine that Hallowe’en had a religious beginning. The word Hallowe’en itself originated in the 16th century as a Scottish contraction of All Hallows Eve. All Hallows was All Saints Day, also celebrated in the Christian tradition since the middle of the 16thcentury on November 1st.
Association of the festival with the dead can be traced as far back as the end of summer festival of Samhain in Celtic Britain. The onset of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere was popularly related to the dying of the natural world. Death was inevitably connected with a spirit existence beyond the grave.
The common features of our modern festivities with death, evil, purgatory and the occult had a much more recent origin, dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries. These came from popularly interpreted Christian doctrines of the punishment of sin, death and evil. Puritans in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions particularly emphasized the suffering and horrors associated with death and life beyond death.
Hallowe’en costumes reflect these traditional beliefs. The Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796), is thought to have been partially responsible for the development of the festival aspects of the event. His poem Hallowe’en had many aspects that have reappeared in contemporary celebrations.
Carved pumpkins are an American invention adapted from the earlier practice of carving turnips in Scotland and Ireland. Commonly found in the agricultural practices of the Native People of the colonial USA, pumpkins were much more readily available and more easily carved than turnips.
Trick or treating in outrageous costumes on Hallowe’en also had a religious origin. In earlier times poor people would go from door to door begging for food in return for offering prayers for the dead on All Saints Day. Masquerading in costume came from Scotland in the late 19th century. In North America, it was first reported in Kingston, Ontario, only in 1911, and in the USA in 1919.
Attempts were made in the late 20th century to use the occasion through the schools to collect money for the United Nations Save The Children Fund. That practice has now been largely abandoned. Due to its commercial opportunities Hallowe’en, especially for small business, is probably impossible to remove from our calendars.
On the other hand, it is likely impossible to revive the celebration of All Saints Day in the liturgical practices of the church. Except with minor emphasis and as a local custom, many denominations ignore it. One of the problems with its celebration began very early when the Western Christians churches marked it on November 1st while the Eastern Christian churches did so on the Sunday after Pentecost. In the Roman Catholic tradition, All Saints Day was followed immediately by All Souls’ Day in remembrance of those who had died but who had not yet been totally purified in Purgatory.
It is probably better that these beliefs become the object of childish begging, derision and humourous tricks than continue as credible aspects of the contemporary religious experience.
