INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
17th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
OCTOBER 10, 2011
CANADIAN THANKSGIVING
DEUTERONOMY 8:7-18. This lesson lifts up two elements of thanksgiving sacred to all humanity: a land of great productivity celebrating the providence of God to Israel; and keeping the celebration permanently meaningful by obedience to God’s covenant.
PSALM 65. Worshipping in the temple, the psalmist expressed gratitude for the freedom and providence with which God has blessed Israel. He called on others also to stand in awe of
the Lord of all creation and join in the jubilation of God’s chosen people.
2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15. Paul asked the Corinthians to contribute generously to a collection he was making to help the Christian community in Jerusalem, then suffering from famine. In doing so, he gave a still valid lesson in good stewardship. It rests on an appreciation and thanksgiving for a new relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul’s metaphors for generosity were from the seedtime and harvest seasons. He may also have had Deuteronomy 15:7-11 in mind which outlined the need to help the poor. He then quoted Psalm 112:9 which he took as a description of the generous person.
LUKE 17:11-19. This incident reflects the hostile relationship between Jews and Samaritans. It is told with a certain amount of polemic against Jews. The main emphasis, however, is on the gratitude of the one Samaritan leper whom Jesus cleansed along with the other nine, who presumably were Jews like Jesus.
A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS:
DEUTERONOMY 8:7-18. This passage is but a small excerpt from the second of the three addresses (5:1-11:32) supposedly given by Moses to the Israelites as they journeyed
through the wilderness of Sinai. The whole address exhorts Israel to remain uncompromisingly faithful to their covenant relationship with Yahweh. As such, it serves as an introduction to the liturgical code which follows (12:1-26:19). It is at least plausible that the compilers of the Book of Deuteronomy had a selection of exhortations like this available to them, or recalled similar exhortations from specific public occasions. However, both the setting and the style suggest that it is a creative work of Hebrew literature from the late 7th century BCE. 2 Kings 22:8-20 tells of a sacred book being discovered during the repairs to the temple in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah (circa 621 BCE).
The reading is singularly appropriate for Thanksgiving because it lifts up two elements for thanksgiving sacred to all humanity, whether in a wholly agricultural or urban society. The first image of a land of great productivity celebrates the providence of God to Israel. The Promised Land had already been in the Israelites possession for many centuries and in many
respects had become urbanized with towns and cities supplied with food from the surrounding rural areas.
The reform of Josiah with its centralizing of worship in the temple in Jerusalem, represented by the Book of Deuteronomy, was a late phase of the urbanization of Israel. Community life of the time certainly was dramatically different from what oral tradition told of their experiences in the Sinai wilderness. A plentiful supply of water, rich soil for growing all sorts of food, and mines for the production of copper made cities like Jerusalem possible (vss. 7-9). Copper was particular valuable for the making of sacred vessels for the temple, but not weapons for the defence of the country. Weaponry of the Bronze Age had been replaced by those made of iron circa 1200 BCE.
The second image in this passage tells the Israelites how to keep their celebration permanently meaningful by their obedience to God’s covenant. That is one of our modern problems with Thanksgiving, especially in the North American setting. It has become little more than another long weekend before winter sets in. The wealth of Western nations has become a trap for self-indulgence similar to that envisaged in vss. 12-13. Reminiscences of slavery in Egypt and the trek through the wilderness (vss. 14-16) call for reflection on where this wealth comes from and seeks to banish all sense of self-sufficiency and aggrandizement (vs. 17).
Be thankful, lest we forget.
PSALM 65. This is a prayer of thanksgiving of special power and beauty. The psalmist expressed particular gratitude for several of God’s gifts: forgiveness (vss.2b-3), worship (vs. 4), freedom (vs. 5), creation (vss. 6-8), and bountiful providence (vss. 9-13). These are the most sacred gifts with which God has blessed Israel. So he called on others also to stand in awe of the Lord of all creation and join in the jubilation of God’s chosen people.
The psalm was most likely used in the liturgy of the temple in post-exilic times. It emphasizes not only the particular gifts but the sovereignty of God at all levels of human life and creation. It breathes a spirit of universalism in that God’s blessings are not only for Israel as the chosen people, but for all humanity.
It has been suggested by some scholars that vss. 1-8 were composed separately from vss. 9-13. Nonetheless, the whole composition is an excellent example of the finest aspects of Hebrew worship drawing on the great monotheistic traditions of the prophets, especially Second Isaiah. It summons the peoples of the world to Zion where Yahweh has given to Israel the special gift of revelation.
2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15. Scholars agree to disagree about the composite nature of Paul’s correspondence to the Corinthians. In this instance he was en route to Jerusalem from wherever he was at the time this letter was written, or that part of 2 Corinthians containing this passage among others. He had previously asked the Corinthians to contribute generously to a collection he was making to help the Christian community in Jerusalem, then suffering from famine. Now, he wanted them to have their gifts ready for him to pick up as he passed through Corinth. There is almost a threat of them being shamed should some of the Macedonians accompany him (vs. 4). Apparently he felt it important to give them advance notice of his intentions; but he may also have sensed that they may have had some reluctance about contributing willingly (vs. 5).
In doing so, he gave the Corinthians a still valid lesson in good stewardship: generosity brings rich spiritual benefits to both the giver and the receiver. Such generosity rests on a deep appreciation and thanksgiving for a new relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. As in all scripture, faith is more a verb than a noun. It involves corresponding action.
However, that is not the way he put it at first. Rather, he couched this main point in metaphors from the seeding and harvest seasons. One wonders how much of the oral tradition of the saying of Jesus he had received, for these metaphors for generosity follow similar sayings in the gospels attributed to Jesus. (Cf. Matt. 6:25-34; 7:2; 13:1-9; Mark 10:30; John 6:1-14; etc.) Paul may also have had Deuteronomy 15:7-11 in mind which outlined the need to help the poor. He quoted Psalm 112:9 which he took as a description of the generous person.
Finally Paul reached the climax of his stewardship message. The Corinthians would benefit themselves by being generous. They would glorify God in doing so as well as meeting the needs of their fellow saints who would then praise God for their liberal gifts. In other words, generosity is not just the making of a large contribution to a good cause; it is an act of worship and thanksgiving.
Do you suppose that this year, when so many homeless people and refugees are in such great need in several parts of the world, that we could share our thanksgiving feast with them by being especially generous?
LUKE 17:11-19. Implicit in this pericope is the aside that John put at the beginning of his narrative of Jesus asking for a drink from the woman at the well in Sychar, Samaria: “Jews do not share things in common with the Samaritans.” This incident reflects that same hostile relationship. It is told with a certain amount of polemic against Jews. Every traveller to Jerusalem from Galilee must either pass through Samaria or skirt its borders. This is still one of the hot-spots of occupied Palestinian and Israeli territory.
To be told of the gratitude of the one Samaritan leper whom Jesus cleansed along with the other nine would have been an offence to Jews. The pericope does not say so specifically, but presumably the nine lepers were Jews like Jesus. They had been banished from all social contact and ritual observances because of their disease. They were homeless, sick, and in many ways considered reprehensible for unknown sins. The hills bordering Samaria would have been a likely place for them find some measure of security, but not healing. We see many such homeless and ostracized people on our city streets today. They have been made into social lepers for economic and political reasons.
Jesus committed several breaches of the Torah in speaking to them and telling them to show themselves to the priests. No greater ritual impurity could there be for a priest or rabbi than to be in close proximity to such people. (And haven’t we heard similar fulminations about the homeless today?)
The punch-line of the story is in vs. 16. The man who returned, prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him was the Samaritan. Jesus marvelled at the ingratitude of the other nine. He assured the grateful one that it was his faith – nothing else, not his ethnic origin or his religious identity or his economic value to society, just his faith – had made him whole. Does this not tell us something about Jesus’ view of what faith is? It does not have any of the rigid boundaries that we tend to put on it. Faith is something everyone can have. That is particularly important in our pluralistic world where other religious traditions have given countless millions faith through the millennia of human history.
Not every one is thankful for God’s blessings. Sometimes people are so happy about their benefits that they neglect to express their gratitude, as did the nine who were also healed of leprosy. Has our Thanksgiving become just another long weekend? Or are we prepared to express our faith and thanksgiving by helping to make people whole even when they are
‘not like us’?
