INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year B - Fourth Sunday In Lent

NUMBERS 21:4-9.  The Book of Numbers is a collection of stories from several sources written at different times telling what supposedly took place while the Israelites wandered in the desert between the Exodus from Egypt and their invasion of Canaan.  The key to interpreting these stories is the ancient covenant tradition of God as Lord of History and Israel as God’s Chosen People. This incident was told to reinforce the idea that God alone, not an object of superstition, was guiding the Israelites toward the Promised Land.

PSALM 107:1-3, 17-22.  This beautiful litany of thanksgiving celebrates several instances when faith was tested and God's redemptive grace relieved distressed souls.  This particular segment focuses on the healing of a serious illness.

EPHESIANS 2:1-10.  If Paul did not write this letter, as many scholars believe, the author knew Paul's work intimately.  In lyrical phrases he proclaimed the central message of early church teaching and preaching.

Faith in Jesus Christ is the one means of salvation. But this gift of God's gracious love is not simply to make us whole again.  The more important thing is what we have been saved for: our way of life as Christians living in the real world.

JOHN 3:14-21.  John would have us believe that these words were spoken by Jesus himself during his secret conversation with a leading Pharisee, Nicodemus.  It is difficult to change this traditional view of some of the best known and most loved texts in all the Bible. More than likely, however, we have John's own analysis of what the coming of the Son of God really means. 

Faith in Jesus Christ brings new life.  This life begins here and now, in this world; but it is also eternal, extending to life with God beyond death. Judgment occurs not at some heavenly court which decides between good and evil, but here and now in the way we respond or reject the life offered to us through Jesus Christ. 

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

NUMBERS 21:4-9.  The Book of Numbers is a collection of stories from several sources written at different times telling what supposedly took place while the Israelites wandered in the desert between the Exodus from Egypt and their invasion of Canaan.  In reality this collection of theological narratives created to determine who constituted the true Israel at a time when the covenant people had lost their sense of identity in the amalgam of the Persian empire. The key to interpreting these stories is the ancient covenant tradition of God as Lord of History and Israel as God’s Chosen People.

The name of the book in English derives from the Greek title Arithmoi and arises from several passages referring to the numbers counted in a census of Israel. The Hebrew name is bemidbar meaning in the wilderness. The whole book tells of Moses' leadership of the Israelites during their time in the wilderness under Yahweh's direction. While exhibiting this thematic unity, the text also reveals some evidence of the four documentary sources of the Pentateuch, J. E, P, and D. Primarily, however, the book appears to come from the Priestly compilers of the post-exilic text whose main purpose was to give identity to Yahweh's covenant people, Israel. The value of Numbers lies not in any supposed historical accuracy, but in the way it tells the descendants of the ancient Israelites who they are from a theological point of view.

The incident recorded in this reading intended to reinforce the idea that Yahweh alone, not an object of superstition, was guiding the Israelites toward the Promised Land. Despite being bitten by poisonous snakes, reputedly sent by Yahweh as a punishment for rejecting Yahweh's direction through Moses (vss. 6-7), the story had a theological meaning to: Yahweh protects the Israelites from harm. The erection of the bronzed serpent was very unusual in the light of the second commandment forbidding images of any kind (cf. Ex. 20:4-6). We now know, however, how meaningful totems and amulets can be for people with simple religious concepts. Quite obviously, the symbol remained significant for the Jewish faith tradition for many centuries afterward because John 3:14 quotes Jesus as making reference to it. The bronzed serpent on a pole remains a symbol of healing for the modern medical profession.

PSALM 107:1-3, 17-22.  This beautiful litany of thanksgiving celebrates several instances when faith was tested and God's redemptive grace relieved distressed souls.  After the opening summons to praise (vss. 1-3), the particular segment contained in vss. 17-22 focuses on the healing of a serious illness.

As a whole, the psalm recalls incidents of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness. One exception appears to be in vss. 23-32 referring to a sea voyage on stormy waters. Was this linked in some way to the parable of Jonah? Some scholars regard it as an addition from the Hellenistic period (after 330 BCE) when sea-borne commerce had become common. Vs. 3 refers directly to the widespread Diaspora of Israel which also indicates a relatively late date for the composition of the psalm.

Structurally, the psalm may or may not have been a unity. The antiphonal responses of vss. 8, 15, 21 and 31 give evidence of it having been composed for congregational worship, possibly at the time when sacrifices were offered in the temple. Of particular significance is the prophetic sense of social justice that permeates the psalm. This emphasis recalls Isaiah 61:1-4.

Vss. 17-22 contains a very traditional view that sin causes sickness. That view still pervades many of the prayers people offer when unforeseen illness strikes. Within limits, however, there is some truth to this point of view. A recent report on global health pointed out that as many people in rich nations are malnourished, but obese or diseased from excessive consumption of unhealthy foods. By contrast in poor countries where food is scarce, has little variety and provides poor nourishment many are nearly starving. In such instances, the Hebrew text fools instead of the English sick in vs. 17 is thus quite appropriate.

The point these verses make, however, is that whatever the cause, Yahweh is the gracious healer of the sick. Healing manifests Yahweh's steadfast love and for this the faithful are summoned to praise, make thank offerings and recount Yahweh's great acts of mercy in joyful songs. This psalm is one of those songs.

EPHESIANS 2:1-10.  Scholarly argument persists as to the authorship of the Letter to the Ephesians. If Paul did not write it, the author certainly knew Paul's work intimately.  In lyrical phrases he proclaimed the central message of early church teaching and preaching.

John C. Kirby in his Ephesians, Baptism and Pentecost (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1968.) proposed one of the more unique views of the letter's origin. He believed that it began as a liturgy and sermon for Pentecost when new catechumens were baptized. Chapters 1-3 consist of a liturgy of praise modeled after the typical Jewish prayer called a berakah. While the form has been taken over from Judaism, the content is thoroughly Christian. Chapters 4-6 contain a sermon admonishing the new converts to live a life worthy of their calling. By skillful reworking, the two parts have been turned into a letter for wider distribution.

The passage selected for this reading celebrates the meaning of the resurrection for every believer. Baptism in the apostolic tradition symbolized the dying and rising of the believer with Christ so that risen Christ was now alive in the faithful. The old ways of living have ended; the new life in Christ has begun. But this is just the beginning. So much more is yet to come "seated with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (vs. 6) This refers obliquely to eternal life with Christ. This is the effect of God's grace, not our accomplishment through moral effort. Yet there must be a moral result, a new creation undertaken with great responsibility: "we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (vs. 10).

A good deal of exposition will be needed to interpret the typically mythological metaphors of this passage for a modern congregation. First century Christian theological thought gathered together Jewish, Hellenistic and other religious concepts. The Jews did not have a personalized devil or Satan as an enemy of God until the 2nd or 3rd centuries BCE in their apocalyptic intertestamental literature. The idea of a personalized demonic power of evil derived from the Persian Zoroastrian tradition. But monotheism demanded that this power not be equal to God as in the Zoroastrian tradition.

Christian thought had incorporated it into their theology as an elemental power of the universe hostile to God. People sin against God because this power, personalized as Satan or the devil, holds sway over our lives. The result is our disobedience to the will of God and alienation from God, i.e. in a sinful state or as here committing "passions of the flesh" (vs. 3) which effectively separate us from God and end in spiritual as well as physical death. This is a thoroughly Pauline concept found throughout the apostle's letters. The idea still persists in literalist interpretations of the metaphors and in humorous attempts to avoid moral responsibility by saying, "the devil made me do it."

Faith in Jesus Christ as the complete expression of God's mercy and grace is the one means of being saved from this destructive end. But this gift of God's gracious love is not simply to make us whole again.  The more important thing is what we have been saved for, our way of life as Christians living in the real world and ultimately in life beyond death.

So what is grace for the modern mind as the antidote to spiritual death? Edward F. Campbell, of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, wrote in The Oxford Companion to the Bible ( Oxford Press, 1993): "Grace names the undeserved gift that creates relationships and the sustaining, responding, forebearing attitude-plus-action that nurtures relationships. Grace concerns the interaction between gracious person and graced recipient involving the wills of both." Campbell further describes how Paul developed this concept in his letters: "Paul's aim is to recapture the primacy of God's yearning search for humanity and the bestowal of power to become disciples. Grace, charis, bestows gifts, charismata. Paul has moved God's initiative of relationship to

such prominence that 'seeking God's favor' or 'imploring God's mercy' fades. But Paul will go on to wrestling with the human response, the use made of God's gift, and the expectation of consequential thankful living." Nowhere is this characteristic Pauline understanding of grace so fully expressed as in this passage.

JOHN 3:14-21.  Did Jesus really say these things? John would have us believe that these words were spoken by Jesus himself during his secret conversation with a leading Pharisee, Nicodemus. It is difficult to challenge this traditional view of some of the best known and most loved texts in the Bible. More than likely, however, we have here John's own analysis of what the coming of the Son of God really means.

John recorded a persistent tradition that Nicodemus was a secret follower of Jesus (John 19:38). For John, Nicodemus represented the whole Jewish nation blind to the truth. Yet in coming to Jesus secretly seeking a deeper understanding of who Jesus really is, he also represented certain of the Pharisees who did not oppose Jesus’ unique ministry and teaching. Apparently a very wealthy man as well as a member of the supreme court of Israel, the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus later participated in Jesus' burial by bringing a great supply of spices to prevent the body from causing

offensive odors while decaying. Thus, like all the rest of the disciples, he did not believe in or anticipate the resurrection. As a Pharisee, nonetheless, he would have believed in resurrection as a messianic event. Again, this points to John's theme that the fundamental issue Jesus' presence raised: Who is he?

The context of this reading proclaims that faith in Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified, brings new life.  This life is spiritual rather than merely physical. It begins here and now, in this world; but it is also eternal, extending to life with God beyond death. Judgment occurs not at some heavenly court assize which decides between a lifetime of good and evil behavior, but here and now in the way we respond or reject the life offered to us through Jesus Christ. 

The reference to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (see above re Num. 21:4-9) symbolized the healing that faith brings. Again, this is not a physical but a spiritual healing. Similarly, the new birth of John 3:3-8 is a spiritual re-creation initiated by the Spirit. John3:16 also re-iterates the reality of the new spiritual life to be received through faith in what God has done in Jesus Christ. This statement has become almost hackneyed by misuse as an aggressive evangelistic tool to the point of condemning anyone who has not experienced "rebirth." In fact, as he goes on to say in

vss. 17-21, it was John's confession of faith that this is what happens when we respond to God's initiative as opposed to the condemnatory pushiness of the "have-you-been-saved?" style of evangelism.

As John states unequivocally, judgment has a prominent place in whatever response we make to the proclamation of the gospel. Our decision becomes our judgment. Nor can "salvation" be regarded as solely individual, but as a global phenomenon. John Donne's prose poem "No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of a continent; a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were..." represents the essence of what vs. 17 states. At the same time, each person may have the opportunity to hear and believe, as surely as did Nicodemus when he sought out Jesus at night.

Light and darkness play a significant part in Johannine thinking. This carries over into the first of the Letters of John (1:5-2:29) which has caused scholars to associate the author of the Gospel and the Letters in various if ultimately indefinable ways. The same metaphor also received considerable emphasis in the writings of the Essene sect of Qumran. In this instance, judgment consists of refusing to respond to "the light" that Jesus Christ brings to the world. Later, John's narrative (9:1-41) reiterates this same metaphor with considerable force regarding the man born blind whom Jesus healed and the Jewish authorities who challenged him.

The ultimate question to which each person must respond is: Have you seen the Light? As vs. 21 put it, not our words, but our actions will be our answer.

-30-