INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year C - Third Sunday After Epiphany

NEHEMIAH 8:1-10.   The passage tells how Ezra the scribe read the law to the

assembled populace after the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. This reconstruction had taken place under the leadership of Nehemiah, the Jewish cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I of Persia, who had been appointed governor of Jerusalem and Judea in the mid-5^th century BC. The point of the story is that, as in the creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:4, great and good work is to be followed by sincere, committed worship.

PSALM 19.    This originally existed as two separate psalms, but at some point were combined as one in an exquisite poem. The composite celebrates the wonder of God's creation and the spiritual value of true devotion to God and obedience to God's law.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-31a. Paul's image of the disciple community as the body of the risen Christ has stood the test of time. It still speaks with power to our generation. Of less significance for us is the list of offices and functions which he enumerates. His purpose in doing so is to illustrate how the various gifts he had found among the Corinthian disciples could work together harmoniously when each person fulfilled his or her function for the good of the whole community. He moved from this powerful metaphor to show how this could be done through the best gift of all - love.

LUKE 4:14-21.    It was the custom in the Jewish synagogues of the 1st century to ask a visiting rabbi to teach from the scriptures. After making an initial tour of Galilee, Jesus went to worship on the sabbath.  He was asked to read and interpret a passage of scripture. He chose or was assigned a passage from Isaiah 61 which was to become the model for his ministry. Then he declared to the congregation that this prophecy was being fulfilled in their hearing. 

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

NEHEMIAH 8:1-10. (The RCL recommends omitting vss. 4 & 7 with their lists of names from the lesson.)  Until the time of Origen in the 3rd century, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were regarded as a unity. They are now again considered as a composite whole edited from earlier sources and memoirs of the two men under whose diligent guidance the walls of Jerusalem and the temple were rebuilt and Israelite law re-established as the guiding principles of late post-exilic life. Most scholars accept that the Chronicler was responsible for the final form of the two books in the 4th century BC. This occurred about a century later than the main events of the reconstruction period in the 5th century BC.

In Ezra 7-10 there is a memoir written in the first person. Similarly in Nehemiah 1-7:5

there is another memoir in the first person. These undoubtedly existed at the time when the editor did his work. The present passage (and the following three chapters, may also be part of the memoir by Ezra which some scholars believe to have been displaced from its original location between Ezra 8 and 9.

This passage tells how Ezra the scribe read the law to the assembled populace after the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. This reconstruction had taken place under the   leadership of Nehemiah, the Jewish cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I of Persia, who had   been appointed governor of Jerusalem and Judea in the mid-5th century BC. One of the scholarly puzzles is why nowhere in the two complete narratives do the two community leaders, Ezra, the scribe, and Nehemiah, the governor, ever meet.

This event recalls a similar event two centuries earlier when King Josiah commanded that the rediscovered book of the covenant law to be read before the assembled elders of Judah and Jerusalem. (See 2 Chronicles 34:29-32) The reading of the Torah had great influence on succeeding generations, and still has to this day in the Jewish tradition, just as  the reading of scripture in the Christian tradition. Like Christianity, however, how one hears the law and interprets its relevance for the present is always a matter of strong debate and frequently open conflict. Of special note in this passage is the statement about interpreting what had been read.

The actual reading during worship may omit two verses which name members of the community present for the occasion. The best explanation for this omission is that the names are virtually unpronounceable for the ordinary reader unfamiliar with Hebrew. The names are not significant, but the role these people played is. They were interpreters who helped the audience understand what they had heard. It is possible that the scrolls of the law were written in a language – Hebrew - that was unknown to most of the audience, who spoke only Babylonian Aramaic.

The role of the rabbi in the Jewish tradition and of the preacher in our own Christian tradition is to do likewise. Naturally, diverse interpretations could be given, leading to a heterogeneous understanding and application of the same law. Jesus himself also appears to have played a similar role in his disputes with the scribes and Pharisees. The same is true today in Judaism as it is in Christianity. For instance, do the laws relating to liturgy, property, sexuality or murder have the same authority today as they had in the time of Nehemiah or Josiah? And whose interpretation has primacy? Out of such differences denominationalism arose in every religious tradition.

PSALM 19.     This originally existed as two separate psalms, vss. 1-6 and vss. 7-14.

Differences in style, poetic grace and points of view indicate dual authorship. At some

point they were combined, perhaps by the author of the second part, in an exquisite poem extolling the virtue of devotion to God and obedience to God's law as of equal spiritual value as wonder at the majesty of God's creation. This could be a great text for an sermon on the holiness of the global environmental.

In the earlier part of the psalm, there are references to ancient myths about the sun long popular in Egypt and Babylon. But, though making use of such ideas, the psalmist stops short of describing the sun as divine, preferring instead a metaphorical allusion. The thinking of Pythogoras about the music of the spheres may also lie behind the poem. In his attempt to discern the basic principle of the universe, that 6th century Greek Philosopher proposed that numbers determined the harmonies of music, the proportions of architecture, the movements of the sun, moon and stars, and the harmony of the spheres. It is entirely possible that some such cross-cultural influence gave this deeply religious psalmist concepts which he transposed into theological language.

In the second part of the psalm, the author carefully observes the rules of Hebrew poetry. The law is represented by six different synonyms paired with one another through parallelism: law - testimony; precepts - commandments; fear - ordinances. However, these have more meaning to the psalmist than mere synonyms. They are means of grace instructing and warning the devoted Israelite of what God requires of the pious believer.

The psalm, probably from the same period as Ezra, the scribe (ca. 450 BCE), ends with a prayer that the worshiper may be preserved from sin and live worthily of his calling as a covenanted soul. For him, the law is no burdensome yoke, but a source of moral strength. Many Jewish people today hold a similar point of view. So do many Christians finding strength and inspiration in Jesus’ invitation in Matt. 11:28-30.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-31A.       Paul's image of the disciple community as the body

of the risen Christ has stood the test of time. It still speaks with power to many in speaking across the centuries to every generation. Of less significance for us is the list of offices and functions which he enumerates in vss. 27-30. It is impossible to discern whether these were actual offices in the Corinthian community or merely the functions performed at different times by the same leading members like himself. Compare this list also with the shorter one in Ephesians 4:11 which may represent a later development in the leadership structure of the Christian community.

Read the passage with a touch of levity and see if Paul isn't tweaking his Corinthian

converts for their childish behaviour as they squabble about who has the more important gift. One could even create a skit around the parts of the body using paper costumes to represent each organ. A youth group might be enlisted to provide an amusing but thought provoking "sermon" for this Sunday. It might be especially useful for a service that included or was followed by an annual vestry or congregational meeting.

The apostle wanted to illustrate how the various gifts he had discerned among the

Corinthian disciples could work together harmoniously if each person fulfilled his or her function for the good of the whole community. He moved on from this powerful metaphor to show how this could be done through the best gift of all - love.

The passage can be interpreted in a wider context than a local congregation or even a

denomination. It would make sense to use it for a service celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In a year when democratic elections will probably take place in several countries, it could help to focus what is meant by the phrase "the public good." James Madison, the Virginia-born champion of religious freedom and fourth president of the United States, may have been the first to popularize the idea of public good as distinct from private rights. He emphasized the importance of protecting both in his Federalist Paper, no. 10 written in 1787. That concept has not been popular in the corridors of power in recent decades. Instead private initiative and enterprise in every aspect of life have been given most attention. Yet the concept of public good is as old as the oracles of the Old Testament prophet Amos. That prophet was speaking of what God wills for all of humanity in the 8^th century BCE.

In this passage about the gifts of each person, the apostle Paul made a similar call for each member of the Christian fellowship to be concerned for every other member. What is more, there can be no other approach to living in the real world of globalization and universal communication. The whole Body of Christ can now be interpreted universally as the whole of humanity as is implied in the later letters of Ephesians and Colossians attributed to Paul. As retired Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote in his recent book, Eternal Life: A New Vision Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell:

“The goal of all religion is nor to prepare us to enter the next life; it is a call to live now, to love now, to be now and in that way to taste what it means to be part of a life that is eternal, a love that is barrier-free and the being of a fully self-conscious humanity.”

LUKE 4:14-21.    It was the custom in the Jewish synagogues of the 1st century to ask a visiting rabbi to teach from the scriptures. After making an initial tour of Galilee, Jesus went to worship on the sabbath.  He was asked or was assigned a passage of scripture to read and interpret. As we shall see in next week's gospel lesson, his interpretation was not what his audience wanted to hear!

Michael Steinhauser made a significant point in an Internet seminar on The Man In The Scarlet Robe by pointing out that although there were at least two major Roman-Hellenist cities in Galilee, Tiberias and Sepphoris, there is no mention in any of the gospels that Jesus entered either of these, but remained in "the surrounding country" (vs.14). Recent archeological discoveries have revealed that there was a significant Jewish population in Sephhoris, scarcely five miles from Nazareth. One can assume that the same was true for Tiberius when Herod Antipas moved his seat of government to that city which he built on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was more of a village preacher than a Hellenistic cynic or an eminent rabbi from Jerusalem. Yet he was certainly being heard by the common people if not by the religious authorities.

Or was this just Luke's way of lifting up Jesus' appeal to the common people in contrast to the later opposition of the authorities? Did he have in mind the community for whom he was writing rather than the curious and disbelieving Nazarenes?

Jesus chose a passage from Isaiah 61 – or it was the assigned reading for the day - which was to become the model for his ministry. Then he declared to the congregation that this prophecy was being fulfilled in their hearing. From this dominical mission, the present disciple community has discerned God's "preferential option for the poor" and the cause of social justice for the most vulnerable in our society.

We have seen this mission exemplified in the enthusiastic secular response to

environmental crises around the world in recent years. Despite the lack of

cooperation from some of the largest and wealthiest countries several governments adopted the Kyoto Treaty as national policy. Other like that of my own country adopted the Kyoto Treaty, but subsequently ignored what it had agreed to do. Again, at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen some governments, like the Canadian, for instance, appear to have withdrawn more and more from their role of developing realistic programs for bringing about a more tolerable protection of the environment and a more equitable sharing of the world's limited resources. It becomes more important to drive the industrial and commercial systems that increase wealth to the wealthiest than to bring equity and justice those who most needed. The chief motivation of the most powerful is to compete for control of these resources so that as little change as possible in the lifestyle of the wealthier parts of the world will be necessary.  One has to wonder what Jesus would say to us if he were to be asked to preach in our community.

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