Fullness is Fantastic

We're here in Arlington, Texas, lecturing through Matthew with 500+ of the best folks in the Lone Star State.  It's a great time, but I don't think Michael or I are going to have a chance to post on the Readings for this Sunday's Mass this week.  Unless Michael does it at 3AM this morning, which he just might.

I am always grateful to participate in these kind of conferences, because of the fruitful cross-fertilization that results from discussing familiar texts with several different scholars.  Michael was sharing today about Temple imagery in the Sermon on the Mount--a new perspective to me, but convincingly argued.  Dr. Hahn was pointing out the parallels of the blessings of Matt 5 and the woes of Matt 23.  Too many to be coincidental!

Fullness of Truth: Arlington, Texas

Michael and I are speaking with Dr. Hahn at the Fullness of Truth conference this Saturday and Sunday in Arlington, Texas.

We will be tag-team lecturing through Matthew. 

For the first time, Fullness of Truth has arranged a live webcast of the event.  You can participate, 8AM-6PM daily, via live webcast for about $15 by registering at this link. If you want to attend, you can find more information here.

The Hallel Psalms and the Last Supper

The Psalm reading for tonight's Liturgy of the Lord's Supper is one of my favorites, Psalm 116, which is a Todah psalm and part of the "Hallel" (Praise) Psalms (Psalms 113-118) that were and are traditionally sung during the Passover meal.

I've reading slightly different opinions among scholars about how exactly the Hallel psalms were incorporated into the ancient Seder celebration.  According to one view, Psalms 113-114 were sung early in the rite, and Psalms 115-118 after the drinking of the third cup, the "Cup of Blessing."

Was There a Passover Lamb at the Last Supper?

Today, Catholics everywhere will celebrate Holy Thursday by attending the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. At this Mass, we will read the institution of the Passover (Exod 12, OT reading), sing one of the most famous of the Hallel Psalms (Psalm 118, Responsorial Psalm), and then read the institution of the Eucharist (1 Cor 11, Epistle) and  Jesus' act of washing the disciples' feet at the Last Supper (John 13, Gospel).  This particular Eucharist is a momentous liturgical moment, where we both recall the institution of the very first Eucharist and enter into the beginning of the calendrical Holy of Holies--the sacred Triduum, climaxing in the feast of Easter (in Latin, Pascha).

Was the Last Supper a Passover Meal?

But how did Jesus and his disciples celebrate the first Holy Thursday? Specifically, was the Last Supper a Jewish Passover meal?

As anyone who has read Pope Benedict's new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week will know, the Pope devotes a substantial portion of his chapter on the Last Supper to the question of the date of the meal--specifically, whether or not the Last Supper coincided with the ordinary Jewish Passover meal (see pp. 106-115). And as anyone familiar with this extremely complex and age-old question knows, there is simply no way I can address it here adequately.

Why Must the Messiah Die?

Why must the Messiah die?

Despite a few mysterious prophetic texts that seemed to intimate this possibility (e.g. Daniel 9:26), the idea that the Messiah could arrive and subsequently be killed was radically counter-intuitive to most first-century Jews. 

Yet the conviction of the early Christians, based on Jesus of Nazareth’s own teachings about himself, was that the radically counter-intuitive impossibility was actually prophesied, if one had the eyes to see and the ears to hear it in Israel’s Scriptures.

A Virgin No Longer: The NABRE continued

I'm trying to follow up, as promised, on the newly released NABRE.

Of course, the change that has garnered the most attention has been the alteration of the translation of Isaiah 7:14, to which my post title alludes.  I want to cover that issue in depth, probably in my next post on this subject.

For now, though, I would like to concentrate on what I see as good features and improvements of this edition.

After ripping open the packaging and checking the translation of Genesis 1:1-2, the next passage I checked was Psalm 8.

You Gotta Love Rising from the Dead

Michael beat me to commenting on the Sunday readings this week, but I had written up some thoughts already, so I thought I’d post them anyway.

Unlike the other Gospels, John recounts only a limited number of miracles of Jesus, which he designates as “signs.”  Although John tells us of only a few miracles, he describes them in much greater depth than the other gospels.  This is quite evident in this weekend’s Gospel reading, in which we get a very lengthy description of all the events surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus.

The the Raising of Lazarus is the sixth of the seven “signs” of the Gospel of John.  The signs seem to escalate as the Gospel progresses.  The healing of the man born blind was pretty impressive, but raising Lazarus tops it.  The Gospel is building toward the seventh and final sign.

The First Reading is an excellent choice: Ezekiel 37.  This is the famous vision of the dry bones, in which an entire army of skeletons is resurrected before Ezekiel’s eyes.  I only wish the Lectionary included the entire story.  However, it does preserve the most important verse:

Anointed with Light: Jesus Re-creates a Man

The drama increases as we progress toward Easter.  This Sunday’s readings are united by the themes of anointing and light.

The First Reading (1 Sam 16:1-13) recounts Samuel’s anointing of David as King over Israel.  Samuel journeys to Jesse of Bethlehem, and scrutinizes each of his sons in search of God’s chosen king, but to no avail.  Finally, the youngest of the eight, David, is called in from shepherding the sheep.  This at last is the future king.

(Visit Bethlehem with me in May!  Click here.)

Two points are essential for connecting this reading with the rest of the lectionary.

First is the LORD’s statement to Samuel: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”  The irony of today’s Gospel Reading will likewise hinge on the fact that appearances are deceiving: from God’s perspective, the sighted are blind, but the blind can see.

Early Christian Books Found in Jordan

I just did an interview on the Drew Mariani Show (Chicago Metro drive-time radio) about this report on early Christian books found in Jordan.

Margaret Barker and Philip Davies have (apparently) already seen the books, or detailed images of them.  The story is breaking in the British press first and only slowly making it into the U.S. media.  Davies is not a man eager to believe things, but he seems genuinely intrigued by this find.  The small, lead books are bound with metal rings, and appear to be composed by Jewish Christians from the first century.  All this needs to be verified, of course.

Good News! Earth No Longer a Barren Wasteland

I got my copy of the NABRE in the mail yesterday, and quickly perused it, even though I was dead tired, just getting home from seven hours of lecturing and several meetings all the way up to 9:30pm.  I am happy to report that several readings have been changed, very much for the better!  Over the next couple days I will be blogging on some of the significant improvements--and a few changes that are perhaps less than optimal.  I still will be using the RSVCE2 for my personal reading and class teaching, but I do recommend that all Catholics involved in teaching ministry of any kind get themselves a copy of the NABRE, because it will be widely used in the Church.  Moreover, some parts are very good--like the Gospel of John, which was already good in the previous NAB.  The edition of the NABRE I purchased was this one, and I like it very much.  It has the words of Christ in red!  I personally love that, but I am shocked that such a pietistic feature got past the editorial board!  I'll have more to say on that issue in the future.

One of the first major improvements I noticed is that tohu wabohu in Genesis 1:2 is no longer egregiously rendered "barren wasteland," but rather "without form or shape," which is still a little odd but definitely a better representation of the Hebrew.  More on that tomorrow, Lord willing.

The Bridegroom Messiah Shows Up in Samaria: Reflections for the Third Sunday of Lent

The Lectionary Readings for this weekend are so powerful, we can scarcely do them justice in a single blog post.

Beginning with this Sunday, the Lectionary turns to the Gospel of John for the remainder of Lent.  We are treated to the amazing trifecta of John 4, John 9, and John 11: three of the most powerful chapters in the most powerful book in the Bible, the Spiritual Gospel, the Soaring Eagle .... JOHN!

The Church turns to these texts from John at this point in the liturgical calendar, because John is, in so many ways, a mystagogical document, a gospel intended to takes us deeper into the mysteries, that is, the sacraments.

If one is not initiated into the sacraments, John remains in many respects a closed book.  I can attest to this from personal experience.

The Beginning of the New Exodus: Reflections on the Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent

This Sunday we are only eleven days into Lent, still very early along on our Lenten pilgrimage.  The readings today share the theme of beginning the journey of faith, even while giving us a glimpse of our final destination.

In all three years of the Lectionary cycle (A, B, C), the readings for the Second Sunday of Lent always pair a key pericope from the Abraham narrative (Gen 12-22) with an account of the Transfiguration from one of the Synoptic Gospels.

The First Reading is the famous opening of the Abraham narrative from Genesis, recounting God’s initial call to Abram while he was still in Ur:

Hey There Delilah ...

First-person participatory dynamic-equivalent contemporizing exegesis of the Samson narratives:

Jesus the New Adam: Reflections on the First Sunday of Lent

The readings for today’s Mass are exceptionally rich and could be the subject of several weeks' worth of lectures, so we will have to limit ourselves today to a few central themes.

(Disclaimer to my students: many of you have heard this before.  In fact, all of this is in the tradition.  I claim no originality.)

The First Reading is the account of the Fall, in which Eve, followed by Adam, gives in to temptation by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The classic scriptural formulation of the nature of temptation is found in 1 John 2:15-16:

 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

The New Covenant Document is Completed

Covenant themes are shot through today’s readings, as Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount in a way reminiscent of covenant documents of antiquity.

Moses told the people,
“Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign,
and let them be a pendant on your forehead.

“I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse:
a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today;
a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today,
to follow other gods, whom you have not known.” (from Deut 11:18-32)

Our first reading is from Deuteronomy, which is The Law of Moses par excellence, since Moses takes personal responsibility for the giving of the laws in Deuteronomy in a way unlike anything previously seen in Exodus through Numbers.  We see this in today’s reading: “Moses told the people, ‘Take these words of mine into your heart and soul ...”  Moses’ responsibility for some of the laws of Deuteronomy is highlighted in Jesus’ teaching: “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives ...” (Matt 19:8).  This is significant, because some of the laws of Deuteronomy are not God’s highest and best, but accomodations authorized by Moses.

This Man Puts Things in Perspective

We owe it to this newest of Catholic martyrs, to take two minutes and watch what has become his last testimony to his faith and his struggle for peace and justice in the Middle East:

What Qualifies a Person as an Authority on Scripture or Theology?

I just received, as I am sure a lot of others did as well, several catalogs from the major theological publishers this week.  Browsing through this year's offerings, I found books by experts on every conceivable branch of theology promising to tell me what the "church" really ought to do, and what this or that portion of the bible "really" means.  I began to wonder to myself, what really makes a person an authority in these matters? 

Getting good grades and fellowships in grad school?

Landing a big contract with Brazos, Fortress, etc.?

An ivy league degree?

Being very rhetorically persuasive?

Getting a lot of speaking engagements?

Landing a "cherry" position at a major university or seminary?

What qualifies a person to understand and mediate the divine mysteries?  Is our "system" really designed to do that?

Yes, I know the sword cuts in all directions, because I've been part of the "system" myself!

Feel free to comment below.

Don't Worry, Be Happy: The Readings for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my LORD has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you. (Isaiah 49:14-15)

Today’s first reading is from the second half of Isaiah (40-66), which is, for the most part, one long word of comfort to Israel concerning the glories of the coming age.  In this passage, “Zion” is urged to take comfort in the fact that the Lord has not forgotten her.  Zion was the location in Jerusalem of the royal palace and government of the Kingdom of David.  (If you want to see it live, come with me in May to Jerusalem).  The Kingdom of David is, according to Raymond Brown ...

What is the Biblical Form of Church Government?

Yesterday's feast day, the Feast of the Chair of Peter, and today's Feast of St. Polycarp (an early bishop), bring up to my mind the issue of the structure and government of the Church.

During my years of training to become a Calvinist pastor, the issue of church polity was quite a live one.  Calvinists themselves do not agree on what is the "biblical model" for church government.  Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregational denominations share a Calvinist doctrinal heritage but different governing structures.  There was more or less a consensus that the New Testament was unclear about the manner in which church leaders should be selected and what their roles were.

It may be true that the New Testament leaves much unsaid about the role of church leaders, but I don't think it is as unclear as we thought it was.  Rather, I think that what was clear was not seen by us, because it was unacceptable and unworkable for us.

"Be Perfect": The Readings for the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time

The readings for the Seventh Week continue to explore Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

The First Reading, from Leviticus 19, recalls that fact that ancient Israel was called to be a holy people because God dwelled among them.

The Book of Exodus ends with the completion and dedication of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Sinai.  God’s presence inhabits the Tabernacle, in the center of the Israelite camp.  From one perspective, the Book of Leviticus (most folks’ least favorite book of the Bible, although the one on which I wrote my dissertation) can be understood as a collection of laws to teach Israel how to live in the holy presence of their God.