Awesome
Visitors and Traveling Apostles bring good news to the faithful and
humble.
Lectionary Comment
During “Common Time,” following Pentecost, the Revised
Common Lectionary in year A begins selected readings from major Biblical books
in sequence. Between now and Advent, the
readings include most of Genesis and Exodus; the Pauline letters of Romans,
Philippians, and I Thessalonians; and most of the Gospel According to
Matthew. How early or late Easter comes
each year determines where the readings in each Biblical book now pick up.
·
In
Genesis we skip the Flood story and the call and covenant with Abraham and
first hear of the visit to Abraham at Hebron
·
In
Romans we skip the sinfulness of all (chs 1-3), Abraham’s righteousness (ch 4),
and start with the corollaries of justification by faith in chapter 5.
·
In
Matthew we are past the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s Call and some healing
miracles, and pick up with Jesus sending the disciples to proclaim good news to
Israel
The readings now pick up, more or less assuming that
we are familiar with all those preceding materials.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7).
The Torah reading carries forward Abraham’s story of getting a true
heir with his wife, Sarah.
This episode is the visitation
by the mysterious figures who announce that Sarah – long past menopause in this
story – is going to conceive a son from Abraham within the year. This announcement of a miraculous birth in
the Abraham story corresponds to the announcement of the virgin conception in
the Jesus story (Luke 1). Peoples of
traditional cultures seek such divinely guided birth events for the
destiny-making figures of their tribes, kingdoms, or world eons. New turns in human events are marked by
divine signs – the meanings of which are known to keepers of tradition and to the
scriptures.
The first half of the reading – the
narrative of Abraham’s eager and fastidious hospitality – is one of the most anthropomorphic presentations of
the God of Israel in the scriptures. It
therefore gave rise over the ages to Rabbinic homilies about these human
features of God, about Abraham’s hospitality to the Almighty, and Sarah’s
mixture of mockery and praise at the promise of a son.
On their part, the early Christian
theologians emphasized the fact that this passage presents three divine figures as if they were one, revealing God’s triune
character. (Thus, “the Lord appeared [singular] to Abraham,” verse 1, but
“three men” show up; Abraham addresses them as “my Lord” [’adonai], singular, followed by singular pronouns, verse 3; when
the deity speaks there is first a plural verb, “They said to him…,” verse 8,
followed by God’s solemn speech in the singular, “I will surely return to
you…,” verse 9.) These clues were
sufficient to convince Christian theologians that here the Triune God appeared
to Abraham!
The story’s ending has a word-play
that explains Isaac’s name (yitsḥaq). The name is built from the
root TS-Ḥ-Q, which has a range of meanings from “laughing” to “joking” to
“making fun of” to sexual “play” (used to describe Isaac “fondling” his wife Rebecca
in Genesis 26:8
The matrix of hoary antiquity,
divine power, sexuality, and laughter in this passage has led some subtle
interpreters to learn from it profound secrets about the deep psychic worlds of
Abraham or of the whole of Jewish culture.
(I give no references here, but some very bizarre things have been
claimed.)
What we really have here is, in fact, an idyllic
tribal picture of the patriarch and matriarch entertaining angels – not so
unawares – and receiving the gift of a destiny-making son of their own.
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19.
The Psalm reading is from a psalm of thanksgiving. In general terms the speaker insists that God
has answered past pleas for help. Now
there is liturgical celebration at the sanctuary where the speaker lifts a
toast to the God who saves (verse 13) and declares that all past vows – uttered
in times of distress – will now be fulfilled.
This is good news to the poor of the land, who get their periodic feasts
from such thanksgiving banquets of the well-to-do.
The whole psalm is designed to be
spoken by a king, here declaring himself to be a servant of God, the son of a
queen-mother, God’s “serving girl” (verse 16).
The conduct and attitude of the king, however, sets a pattern for all
the worthies in his realm, and the faithful will learn from it as they do from
the model of Abraham’s hospitality to God.
[The Lectionary has readings from
Romans for the next several weeks. You
can find an Introduction to Romans
on my Study Bibles blog, see the “Blog Archive” for a posting in April 2019, Romans.]
The Epistle reading is a kind of summary
and transition passage. The
transition is between the view just developed that believers are “justified”
before God by God’s own grace (chapters 3-4) and the elaboration, yet to come,
of the life lived by those who have received God’s grace (chapters 6-8).
The summary declares, “we have peace
with God” (verse 1, following the NRSV
This new condition is only possible,
however, because of the death of Christ.
Paul pauses to ponder the gravity of
this.
“Rarely will anyone die for a
righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare
to die. But … while we still were
sinners Christ died for us” (verses 7-8).
This dying is itself the expression
of the love of God for us, and we shall see how the dying is the key to our
transformation as we read chapter 6 in the next two weeks.
The Gospel reading introduces the second great body of Jesus’
teaching in the Gospel According to Matthew.
[There is a long introduction to
Matthew, “MATTHEW – Gospel for a Teaching
Church
The Sermon on the Mount had
elaborated the blessings and the challenges of those included in the newly arriving
Kingdom of Heaven
Actually, the preferred term in
Matthew is “disciples” rather than apostles. Elsewhere Matthew describes how five of the
disciples were called by Jesus (Peter, Andrew, James, and John in 4:18 -22, and Matthew in 9:9). Here (in 10:2-4) the disciples are twelve in
number, and their names are given, though nothing further is known of most of
them. (Essentially the same list of
twelve is given in Mark 3:16-19 , in Luke
6:13-16 , and in Acts 1:13 .)
The word “apostles” is used only
once in Matthew, and that is in the heading of this list of the twelve names
(10:2). The term probably belongs to
that list as Matthew received it and chose not to change it. Otherwise, his term is “disciples.” It is the eleven “disciples” who receive the
final commission to the world in 28:16.
In the later history of the Church, however, it is the mission and
status of the “apostles” that is very important.
The reading shows strong compassion
on Jesus’ part for the neglected folks of Israel 9:36 , NRSV ). The literal meaning of “harassed” is
“skinned, flayed” as of animals, and the literal meaning of “helpless” is “cast
down, prostrate,” as those who have been beaten and knocked down. Jesus’ compassion is for those who have been
skinned and stomped, quite literally the downtrodden.
The first word of Jesus’ instruction
to those going on mission is to go to Israel Galilee . Within the Gospel According to Matthew, this
is a limitation applying to Jesus’ time only.
Later the apostles will go far and wide, well beyond Galilee .
But confined to Galilee ,
the disciples are to proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom in the same terms used
by John the Baptist and by Jesus earlier (Matthew 10:7, compared to 3:2 and 4:17 ).
The power of the coming Kingdom has already begun to work. That is why the disciples, like Jesus
earlier, can heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out the
powers of evil, the demons (verse 8).
The mission of the apostles is a healing ministry, which will bear its
own testimony to the coming of the Kingdom.
Included in the optional reading (10:9-23) are many details of how the apostles
should conduct themselves during their mission work. They are to be itinerants, staying no place
very long, and without possessions – no traveling bag, no extra suit, no dress
shoes, and no cane for walking or protection (verses 9-10). They will live off the people they visit and
serve. This may seem hazardous for the
missionaries, but it was also subject to abuse.
Such traveling ministers were well
known in the rural churches of Syria
Now about the apostles and
prophets: Act in line with the gospel
precept. Welcome every apostle on
arriving, as if he were the Lord. But he
must not stay beyond one day. In case of
necessity, however, the next day too. If
he stays three days, he is a false prophet.
On departing, an apostle must not accept anything save sufficient food
to carry him till his next lodging. If
he asks for money, he is a false prophet.
(Didache 11:3-6, trans. Cyril
C. Richardson, Early Christian Fathers,
Westminster Press, 1953, p. 176.)
Jesus’ compassion was for the needy
and the downtrodden, and his disciples were to heal and help, not become an
additional burden upon their flocks.
They were to live by faith and bring the good works of God that were the present reality of the kingdom of heaven.
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