I Kings
The Lord performs awesome wonders that change things
for peoples and nations.
Ordinary Time.
After Pentecost and Trinity Sundays, the Christian
year has over six months of “ordinary
time,” time between the holy seasons of Advent-Epiphany and
Lent-Pentecost. The Lectionary
selections for this period are not fixed by sacred themes, but are designed for
general exposure of the people to the scriptures. Each of the three years of the Lectionary
cycle has its own strategy, but when people have gone through the cycle two
times (six years) their Sunday readings have exposed them to most of the
Christian Bible.
In Year C,
the primary readings from the Hebrew scriptures provide a history of
prophecy. The selections move from the work of
Elijah through the great eighth century prophets Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, then
dwell at length on the words of Jeremiah in the last period of the kingdom of
Judah, and conclude with some post-Exilic prophesies.
In the same period the Epistle selections are taken from Paul’s letters, reading most of Galatians
and Colossians for two months, and, after a period on the Letter to the
Hebrews, continuing with the Pastoral letters written in Paul’s name. A block of readings from the Letter to the
Hebrews is included in each year of the Lectionary cycle, approximately a third
of the Letter in each year. The readings
in Year C are the third part (chapters 11-13), dealing with the Christian
pilgrimage in the world.
The Gospel
readings during Ordinary
Time of Year C are taken entirely from Luke, covering much of chapters 7
through 21, though mainly selected from the materials of the Journey to Jerusalem in chapters 10-19, where many teachings
found only in Luke are given.
I Kings 18:20 -21,
(22-29), 30-39.
For the next several weeks our readings
from the Hebrew scriptures concern the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The Special
Note below on the background to Elijah and Elisha may be useful for this group of readings.
Our reading presents a great ordeal – contest – to determine what religion the people
of the kingdom will follow.
On the surface it is a one-sided contest: one prophet for Yahweh against 450 prophets
for Ba‘al (with another 400 backups in the wings, see 18:19 ). It is an
all-or-nothing contest, with drastic political consequences. The kingdom is not big enough for both Elijah
and Jezebel; one will have to go, and even though he wins the contest, it is
Elijah who becomes the hunted man (19:1-2).
(This non-sequitur is probably due to the conventional story-pattern
also reflected in the Exodus story:
after winning release from Egypt in the tenth plague [Exodus 12], the Israelites are
still pursued by Pharaoh out into the wilderness [Exodus 14:5-9].)
The contest is to decide which deity controls the
weather – who can make it rain. The
first words of the Elijah story-cycle announce to the king the coming of a
three-year drought. The drought raises
to the Nth degree the issue of who gives rain (I Kings 17:1). The contest on Mount Carmel settles the issue in favor of the one true God,
Yahweh, God of Israel. (The Canaanite Ba‘al was a storm god bringing
the rainy season, just as was Yahweh in his youth, e.g., Judges 5:4-5; Nahum 1:3b-5. Psalm 29 is apparently a Ba‘al hymn to the
storm-god adapted for praise of Yahweh.)
The details of Elijah’s procedure are intriguing
(verses 30-35). He rebuilds an old
Yahweh altar. He uses exactly 12 stones , he pours 12 jars of water over the wood and altar,
and he digs a trench around the altar, all of which is probably cosmic
symbolism. The Ba‘al prophets in their
turn (in the optional reading, verses 22-29) had performed ritual dances and
bodily mutilations, presumably congruent with their deity’s character.
It is clear that in northern Israelite tradition
this contest on Mount Carmel was the equivalent of the Exodus: it was the violent triumph of Yahweh over the
gods of the land, determining the future of the chosen people. Though this was a north-Israelite event, its
truth would outlast that kingdom and endure for prophets and reforming kings in
the later kingdom of Judah .
Psalm 96
The psalm is certainly a response to the prophetic
reading: the triumphant Yahweh of Mount
Carmel is celebrated as the lord of all – cosmos and nations.
It is well to hear the key verses in a translation
(the New Jerusalem Bible) that retains the proper name Yahweh, the God who emerged from the polytheistic world of
Canaan to take possession, in time, of a modest servant
people with astonishing destinies before them.
Give to Yahweh, families of nations,
give to Yahweh glory and power,
give to Yahweh the glory due his name!
Say among the nations, “Yahweh is king.”
The world is set firm, it cannot be moved.
He will judge the nations with justice.
[For he is] coming to judge the earth,
he will judge the world with saving justice,
and the nations with constancy.
(Verses
7-8a, 10, 13, New Jerusalem Bible.)
Galatians 1:1-12.
While the prophetic and psalm readings proclaim that
there is no other God, the opening of Paul’s letter to the Galatians insists
that there is no other gospel.
This is the first of six Sunday readings from
Galatians, which will cover most of the contents of that fiery letter. The opening is unusual among Paul’s letters
because he leaps into his urgent business after only a short address and
greeting. “I am astonished...,” he
probably shouted to his amanuensis. How
could these “foolish” Galatians (3:1) so quickly distort the central message
Paul had brought to these non-Judean folks in central Asia Minor ?
After pronouncing a couple of curses on those who
distort the gospel, Paul insists that the true gospel is not human (not
variable) but the result of divine revelation.
“[T]he gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I
did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it
through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (verses 11-12, NRSV). Next week’s reading will develop this claim
in detail.
Like Elijah, Paul was a witness to something
decisive for the future of God’s people, and his life was at stake in
proclaiming it to the peoples of the nations.
Luke 7:1-10.
The Gospel reading is not a mighty act of God,
settling the destinies of peoples.
Instead it is an episode in Jesus’ Galilean ministry that proved to have
many meanings for the later followers. Our
reading is one version of Jesus healing the servant (or son) of an Officer
in Capernaum.
Second generation Christians told (at least) three
versions of this story: (1) Matthew
8:5-13; (2) Luke 7:1-10; and (3) John 4:46-54.
Each version has its own emphasis.
Matthew presents the basic story in its simplest form: the Centurion with the sick servant declares
that Jesus can heal simply by giving a command.
Jesus’ authority is like that of a military commander: he speaks and it is done. Matthew adds a special point: This great faith on the part of a non-Judean
person is a prophecy that the peoples of the nations will replace the current
Judeans in the kingdom to come (Matthew 8:11 -12).
In the Gospel of John, the “royal official” does not make a fancy statement about Jesus’
word of command. When, however, Jesus,
in Cana , says that the officer’s son, in Capernaum , is now healed, the officer believes (has
faith in) Jesus, and his faith is subsequently justified by the healing that
happened at a distance in Capernaum
(John 4:50 -53).
Luke’s
version of the story has several distinctive
features. (1) Here the Centurion never
comes in contact with Jesus. Instead, he
sends messengers to Jesus. In fact, he
sends two sets of messengers, one made up of Judean elders of the community
(verse 3) and one made up of his own “friends,” perhaps not all Judean (verse
6).
(2) The Judean messengers give powerful reasons why
Jesus should help this foreign resident in their community: “...for he loves our people [ethnos,
nation], and it is he who built our synagogue for us” (verse 5, NRSV).
Thus, what Luke presents is a Roman career soldier
who is a decided friend of the Judean people in Galilee . (There were no Roman military
units based in Galilee , so such a man would have been in the service of
Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee from 4 BCE to 39 CE.) The rest of the story
shows that this non-Judean pillar of the community was a man of faith. Besides his
great sympathy for the Judean tradition, he has acquired a firm belief in
Jesus’ power to heal, and seeks the benefit of this power for his servant, who
is at the point of death.
What Luke has in common with Matthew is the
Centurion’s long declaration about the power of an authoritative command. “But only
speak the word, and let my servant be healed,” for he, the Centurion, is also a
man of authority whom subordinates obey without hesitation (verses 7-8). This is what Luke and Matthew see as the
great “faith” of this foreigner. He has
heard the message of Genesis 1. God
speaks, and it happens. THAT is the
“faith,” of which Jesus says, “Not even in Israel have I found such faith” (verse 9).
(It is a bit ironic that in Luke’s text Jesus never
utters that word of power! Luke doesn’t
bother to say, “ And Jesus said, ‘Let him be healed.’” Hearers are expected to fill in the gaps
themselves!)
Commentators have spotted other links for this multivalent story.
Commentators have spotted other links for this multivalent story.
Some think the non-Israelite military commander who
seeks healing power from an Israelite prophet is like Naaman, the
chief-of-staff of the Syrian army whom Elisha healed from leprosy (II Kings
5:1-19). Perhaps more likely is the
suggestion that this Centurion who gets help from Jesus anticipates the later
Centurion, representing non-Judean folks, whom God directs Peter to bring into
the chosen community (Acts 10). Luke
seems to make a big deal of keeping Jesus separate from the non-Judean man and
house, but Luke knows that will change in good time, in God’s time, and thus he
can maintain Jesus’ separateness in Galilee.
Others make the following point: There are only two cases in the Gospels where
Jesus heals foreigners (Samaritans don’t count), and both of those are healing
of a child (or servant) at the request of a master or parent. Also, both healings take place at a
distance. Besides the Centurion with his
servant in Capernaum , there is the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter
is healed after the woman wins her word contest with Jesus (Mark 7:24 -30).
Special Note: The
Elijah and Elisha stories.
It was in the time
of Elijah (and Elisha) that Israel ’s
obligation to serve “Yahweh alone” became a great public issue. The revelation that Israel must have no other
God than Yahweh was the point of the battle of the gods on Mount Carmel (I
Kings 18), and the rest of the Elijah-Elisha cycle of stories demonstrates at
length how radically serious that revelation had to be taken in Israel. (Jehu’s revolution, II Kings 9-10,
slaughtered many people, ostensibly for religious reasons, but clearly to
eliminate supporters of the old dynasty who could become future threats.)
The overall
framework of the Elijah-Elisha block of materials in I Kings 17 through II
Kings 10 is that of a great dynastic revolution. The framework is clearer if we concentrate
only on the following passages, which are the essential components of the
Elijah-Elisha and King Jehu story:
I Kings 17 Elijah brings drought and works
miracles.
I Kings 18 Elijah brings rain, defeating Baal
prophets on Mount Carmel .
I Kings 19 Elijah receives God’s
revolutionary commands on Mount Horeb .
I Kings 21 Ahab and Jezebel are condemned for
Naboth’s vineyard.
II Kings 1 Elijah condemns Ahab’s son
Ahaziah.
II Kings 2 Elijah’s Mantle passes to
Elisha.
II Kings
8:7-15 Elisha sanctions revolution
in Damascus .
II Kings
9:1-13 Elisha anoints Jehu king for
revolution in Israel .
II Kings
9-10 Jehu executes the judgment of
the Lord on Ahab’s house.
It may be
noticed that the Elijah-Elisha story is parallel in basic structure to
the traditional Israelite story.
Elijah and
Elisha replicate the work of Moses and Joshua.
Elijah’s defeat of the Baal prophets on Mount Carmel is the same kind of
decisive mighty deed of the Lord as the defeat of Pharaoh in the Exodus;
Elijah’s trip to Mount Horeb (with miraculous feeding in the wilderness) and
the revelation there of God’s plan parallels Moses at Mount Sinai; and the
revolution precipitated by Elisha, parallel to Joshua, equals the Conquest of a
new life order for God’s people (meaning the reign of a new dynasty with a
radically new religious policy).
The
history behind the tradition. All of
the Elijah-Elisha materials were preserved in later generations in Jerusalem ,
harmonized with a Jerusalem
viewpoint. Somehow that Jerusalem
viewpoint had accepted the internal rationale of this story cycle, accepted the
Jehu dynasty’s own view that the God of Israel had sanctioned Jehu’s rule in
Israel just as God had sanctioned the dynasty of David in Jerusalem. It was by Yahweh’s own command that Jehu and
four generations of his heirs reigned over the northern kingdom from 842 to
about 745 BCE , the longest single dynasty of
that kingdom. Jehu’s revolution was a
religious war, fought to the finish, leaving no doubt that there is only one
God in Israel ’s
destiny.
As Jerusalem
saw it, a hundred and thirty years later (in the time of king Hezekiah), the
northern kingdom did not sufficiently learn that lesson, and suffered the fate
of defeat and exile because of their apostasy from Yahweh. Jerusalem
preserved the stories of Elijah and Elisha to make sure that Judah
mastered the lesson of Yahweh as the Only God of Israel. It was to that God that the Judeans looked
for their own deliverance and whatever peace was possible for them.
“Minimalist” historians would have it that all the Elijah-Elisha stories are simply fiction. As a serious historical issue, however, there is no satisfactory explanation of the details and few tight connections with external history that these stories reflect without some historical core to the Elijah figure and Jehu’s religiously-based dynastic revolution. The Elijah era, with the emergence of the Yahweh-Only religious-political movement, was a decisive point in the evolution that created the Hebrew scriptures as we know them.
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