INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year B - Third Sunday After Epiphany

JONAH 3:1-5, 10. One should read the whole parable of Jonah at one sitting. It takes no more than fifteen minutes. Most people remember only the story of the fish that swallowed Jonah. That was, in fact, a metaphor for Israel’s exile in Babylon.

Written as a missionary tract, the story calls Israel to a mission of proclaiming God's saving goodness and mercy among all peoples - even Israel's worst enemy - Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. The story ends with Jonah getting his come-uppance for his too narrow belief that divine compassion extends only to Israel.

PSALM 62:5-12. This poem presents the same elements of universal justice and compassion because of the psalmist’s confident trust in God's steadfast love.

1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-31. In this brief passage Paul appears to counter the traditional view of Christian family values. But is he really suggesting that marriage is not the best thing for young men and women in the Corinthian congregation?

MARK 1:14-20. Mark's version of Jesus calling his first disciples is quite different from what we read in John 1:35-51. John the Baptist had been imprisoned, but Jesus took his place preaching repentance and the good news of God's salvation. The calling of the four fishermen occurred entirely on Jesus' initiative. John said that it was the result of their curiosity. Mark's presentation was in keeping with his sense of Jesus' messiahship being hidden until Peter's declaration toward the end of Jesus' ministry (Mark 8:27-33). However they were called, the disciples' response was immediate.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

JONAH 3:1-5, 10. If this is to be the basis for the sermon, it would be instructive to set aside the other readings and spend the whole time for to reading aloud this remarkable tale. The prayer of Jonah in 2:2-9 could be omitted in such a reading. Scholars regard it as a later addition to the original story because it interrupts the natural flow of the narrative and represents the very opposite view of the basic story. On the other hand, the prayer mocks Israelite piety exemplified in Jonah whose sole concern was his own reputation for the accuracy of prediction or a restriction of divine compassion to Israel alone. A dramatic reading by two or more voices could make the Book of Jonah particularly memorable.

There is a delightful air of exaggeration about the details of Jonah’s experiences. Ancient Nineveh was not so large as to take three days to walk across. The Assyrian empire, of course, was much larger. Although no accurate estimate has been made of the date of the writing of the book, it would certainly have been long after the fall of Assyria to the Babylonians and the exile of the 6^th century BCE. The exaggeration serves to heighten the threat to Israel’s national existence in the same way that the exile did. The storm and the fish (definitely not a whale) that swallowed Jonah are symbolic of the exile and another exaggeration of the prophet’s experience. He himself represents those in Israel who fear and hate their neighbors. The ironic twist of the story comes in 3:10 when the God of Israel spared Israel’s worst enemies who repented after Jonah had preached to them.

So “what kind of a God is this?” becomes the fundamental issue of the story. The whole tenor of the narrative is that of a midrash, a story told to interpret biblical texts or beliefs which raise similar questions. Three such texts exist in the other biblical literature: Exodus 34:6; Numbers 23:19 and Ezekiel 18:23. Is divine mercy more powerful than justice? Can a deity actually repent? Does Yahweh’s preference to grant life rather than death extend beyond the border of Israel, the chosen people?

Jonah represents the element in post-exilic Israel which turned inward and became extremely exclusivist, nationalistic and xenophobic. This attitude contrasted with the universalism of Second Isaiah, but found also in Exodus 14:31; 1 Kings 19; Jeremiah 26 and 36; and Psalm 139. Prophetic voices had always uttered judgement against Israel or other foreign nations. Usually they had extended the hope of Yahweh’s mercy for those Israelites who remained faithful or repented. Generally speaking, they predicted the destruction of Israel’s oppressors. Like the Book of Ruth, Jonah widens the embrace of divine mercy to all peoples, even those like Assyria who had brutally oppressed Israel at different periods of its history.

How can Christian gospel be proclaimed from this text? The Old Testament is our book too, not merely “the Hebrew scriptures.” The compassionate God of Jonah is still Lord of history. Warring nation states or religious extremists on all sides of current global conflicts have sought to use this God as a means of propaganda to judge the conduct of their enemies. Some claimants to Christian faith still hold to a belief in a violent outcome of a final Armageddon in which divine forces will aid in the victory over other “evil empires” or extreme terrorist organizations .

But does God not see the history of our times through the eyes of Jesus Christ? Are not the gifts of the Spirit enumerated in Galatians 5:22-23 the spiritual values that will determine the ultimate end of our present world struggles? If we were in the Ninevites position, would we prefer the end of the story Jonah predicted or the end as it is written? Could not the mood of this anonymous poem posted to Ralph Milton’s e-zine RUMORS (rumors@joinhands.com) be the moving spirit of our times? It seems to say what the Book of Jonah was also saying.

Ships sail east and ships sail west

While the self same breezes blow:

It's the set of the sails and not the gales

That determines the way they go.

Like the winds of the sea is the way of fate

As we journey along through life.

It's the set of the soul that determines the goal

And not the calm or the strife.

PSALM 62:5-12. The only explanation for beginning the reading of this psalm at vs. 5 is that, according to biblical scholars, it had become corrupted in some way during transmission. Its original beginning was lost and replaced by a repetition of vss. 5-6 as vss. 1-2.

The poem has some relationship with the vocabulary and mood of Qoheleth ( Ecclesiates) and the later Wisdom literature of the intertestamental period. This is especially noticeable in vs. 9. At the same time, it also expresses a sincere confidence in God using traditional phrases and images of the Psalter such as “my rock and my salvation”; “my fortress” and “a refuge”.

The psalm goes well with the reading from Jonah because it presents the same elements of universal justice (vss. 9-10) and compassion based on the psalmist’s confident trust in God's steadfast love (vss. 11-12).

1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-31. In this brief passage Paul appears to counter the traditional view of both Jewish and Christian family values by promoting celibacy within marriage as well as outside of it. But is he really suggesting that marriage is not the best thing for young men and women in the Corinthian congregation?

The key words are: "...the appointed time has grown short...." At this stage in his ministry, Paul was looking for the imminent return of Christ in glory. He wanted all faithful people to give themselves wholly to preparing for that event. Marriage and family responsibilities would detract from their commitment. So also would worldly possessions. It was excessive attachment to these relationships, not their existence, which Paul decried. Celibacy received very little mention in the scriptures. For Jews it was limited to those who through injury could not function sexually (Deut. 23:1) and those who through a congenital condition, violence or choice had become eunuchs (Matt. 19:12). As far as we know, Paul was not married, which was unusual for a rabbi; or his spouse had died, a not uncommon reality in those days of poor prenatal and postnatal health care. There was an ancient and probably fictitious legend that he had been married to the daughter of Caiaphas, the high priest, who oversaw the execution of Jesus. The marriage broke down when he became an apostle for the very man his father-in-law had condemned.

Christian celibacy is thought to have derived from the Essene sect of Qumran. Philo of Alexandria and Josephus both believed that the Essenes did not marry or practised celibacy in marriage. A closer examination of the cemetery at Qumran and of the Dead Sea Scrolls has revealed, however, that while marriage was restricted, it was by no means banned by the sect.

The adoption of celibacy for clergy in the post-apostolic church of the 2^nd and later centuries depended more on dogmatic theological attitudes to sexuality by church authorities. This had come into the Christian community through the Greek philosophy which isolated the human body from the spirit. As the expectation of the Parousia receded, celibacy was still praised and marriage at least tolerated. The triumph of the orthodox Trinitarian formula in the 4^th century increased the cult of the Virgin Mary and led to the belief that sexuality and marriage, while permitted, were less spiritually valuable than celibacy for both men and women. However, this did not become a requirement for western clergy and religious vocations until the 12^th century. It was never adopted by the Eastern Church and had not been effectively enforced in the Western Latin Church until the 19^th century. The current view of most mainline Christians is that sexuality and marriage are gifts of God who created us male and female in God’s own image. These gifts are to be welcomed, appreciated and disciplined according to what God requires of us in all our relationships with other persons of the opposite or same gender.

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MARK 1:14-20. Mark's version of Jesus calling his first disciples is quite different from what we read in John 1:35-51. John the Baptist had been imprisoned by Herod Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, the region to the east of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus immediately took his place preaching repentance and the good news of God's salvation. (1:14)

The calling of the four fishermen occurred entirely on Jesus' initiative, not as John appears to say (John 1:35-51), due to of their curiosity. This was in keeping with Mark's presentation of Jesus' messiahship being hidden until Peter's declaration toward the end of Jesus' ministry (Mark 8:27-33). However they were called, the disciples' response was immediate.

Let’s face it, this has always been a problem because the decision of the four fishermen seems so irrational. The call of the four and their instantaneous response was intended, not to report an historical event, but to encourage faith and to set an example for others to follow. It has succeeded remarkably in doing so. Witness the frequency with which the story has been used in evangelical preaching and hymnody. In telling of their call in this way, Mark appears to be saying that these fishermen are typical believers, not church officials as the later institution regarded them.

In a helpful if contrarian article in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, (Oxford University Press, 1993; 138-9) Professor J. Andrew Overman, of the University of Rochester, NY, points out that for Mark the disciples are “agents of instruction for the author, but as negative examples. They teach the audience or readers, but mostly through the things they do wrong or fail to understand.” This provides Mark with opportunities to explain Jesus’ mission. “Discipleship in Mark involves fear, doubt and suffering.... (They) never fully understand and never quite overcome their fear and apprehension.”

If this be so, then the immediate response of the four fishermen was quite uncharacteristic. They did not hesitate at all when Jesus invited them to follow him and “fish for people.” But that is often the case with discipleship, isn’t it? We begin with immediate enthusiastic acceptance of the invitation. Subsequent experience knocks that out of us very quickly. The inspiration of the moment is easily stifled and a sense of spiritual boredom soon overwhelms us. (Cf. The parable of the sower and seed - Mark 4:3-9.) Compare also a modern instance: Of all the thousands who over the past half century or more responded to Billy Graham’s altar calls, how many maintained their initial commitment? By introducing the four disciples this early in his narrative, Mark is setting up just such a situation to teach his audience how difficult discipleship really is when lived out in the real world with only faith to carry them.

Remember too, that Mark was writing in the 60s CE when Christian discipleship had become exceedingly costly in Nero’s Rome. The gospel may well have been written soon after the deaths of both Peter and Paul. At such a time who was willing to don the shoes of the four fishermen?

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