INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year A - PROPER 16

 

EXODUS 1:8-2:10.   The lectionary moves on from the Joseph saga, quickly spanning at least several generations during which the Israelites lived very productively in Egypt. We must remember, however, that the Exodus narrative is the great Israelite epic, not recorded history. Archeological evidence of its occurrence has yet to be found.

 

The epic begins with a well-known tale of a new pharaoh enslaving the Israelites and attempting their genocide by ordering midwives to kill all the male newborns. The ruse failed. The daughter of Pharaoh found the child of a Levite hidden by his mother, gave him an Egyptian name, Moses, and returned him to his own mother for nursing.

 

PSALM 124.   Escape from disaster through divine intervention resounds through Israelite mythology. This psalm reiterates this theme using different metaphors from war, natural disasters and hunting to make the point.

ISAIAH 51:1-6.  [Alternate]  The unknown prophet of Israel=s exile in Babylon reassures believers in Israel=s covenant that God will intervene to change their tragic circumstances because God has never deserted them.

PSALM 138.   [Alternate]  In a spirit of universalism, the psalmist offers a prayer of thanksgiving for God=s steadfast love in preserving him in troubled times because such intervention fulfils the divine purpose.

ROMANS 12:1-8.     Paul's theology, preaching and letter writing all had one goal: to bring his audience to an understanding of the faith in its Christian form and to commit themselves to a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ. He proclaimed primarily, if not exclusively, an ethical gospel and theology made possible by the living Christ. It was good news for ethical living.

 

Nowhere in all of the letters attributed to Paul does this come to the fore more explicitly than in this passage. In many respects this form of exhortation has become a standard preaching method ever since. A preacher sets forth the truth of the gospel, then exhorts the congregation in ways to carry it into daily living.

 MATTHEW 16:13-20.  Many dogmatic and ecclesiastical issues surface in the analysis of this reading. Not the least of these are the primacy of Peter and hence of the claim to the papacy by the bishop of Rome. Another is the nature of the authority ostensibly given by Christ to the apostles. On the other hand, scholars have long debated whether the words attributed to Jesus are in fact a valid rendition of what he may have said on this occasion. Of greater significance, however, is Peter=s confession that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God.

 

 

A MORE COMMPLETE ANALYSIS

 

EXODUS 1:8-2:10.     The lectionary moves on from the Joseph saga, quickly spanning at least several generations during which the Israelites lived very productively in Egypt. It is difficult to know just how long this sojourn lasted, but probably not the 430 years stated in Ex. 12:40. Scholars have usually identified the "new king ... who did not know Joseph" as Ramses II (1290-1224 BCE), the most powerful king of the 19th dynasty. It could also have been his father, Seti I (1302-1290). Ramses II was a prodigious builder, but no Egyptian records document either the oppression of the Israelites or an exodus of a large population during his long reign. We must remember, however, that the Exodus narrative is the great Israelite epic, not recorded history.

 

Research has confirmed the details of brick-making in Egypt at this time. Sun-dried adobe bricks are still used for construction of peasant villages in that part of the modern world. Within the last decade a mosque using this type of construction has been built in Utah, USA. The secrecy and deceit surrounding the birthing of male children (1:15-22) reads as religious data tracing the miraculous rescue of Moses to an act of God. So also does the inclusion of Moses in the priestly tribe of Levi. (2:1)

 

One of the more puzzling aspects of the story is the Egyptian name given to Moses (it means "to be born") and his protection by a princess of the royal household. A notable parallel has been drawn to the birth of Sargon I, who was rescued from the Euphrates and later became the founder of the early Semitic city-state of Akkad (ca. 2350 BCE). Despite the existence of a series of other Egyptian generations in the Levitical genealogy in Ex. 6:16 (Phineas, Hophni and Merari and possibly also Aaron and Miriam) no additional evidence is available to connect Moses to the Egyptian court apart from the birth story. Other attempts to link him to the putative monotheistic revolution of Akhenaton of the previous 18th dynasty located at a new capital city, el-Amarna, have not been successful.

 

Nonetheless, a realistic assessment of the story of Moses point to many Egyptian influences. The Egyptian empire in Asia extending as far as northern Syria was lost due to a Hittite invasion from Anatolia (modern Turkey) which took place during the reign of Akhenaton (1369-53 BCE). Egyptian records show that an incursion of western Semitic tribes known as the Hapiru (or Habiru) into the region of southern Syria, Phoenicia  and Palestine took place during this same period. Some scholars have hypothesized that these people were among the tribes who subsequently formed the Israelite confederacy.

 

The Moses tradition came down chiefly through the E-document, using folklore as its source. As it stands now it was greatly influenced by the editor(s) of the P-document with post-exilic priestly additions made throughout. Scholars now concede that "the underlying bare facts are not longer recoverable."  Rather it is "history transfigured by faith" in the form of a cultic document in celebration of the Passover.  (G. Henton Davies. "Exodus" in The Twentieth Century Bible Commentary, Revised Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.)

 

PSALM 124.     Psalms 120-134 had a special place in the liturgies of the Second Temple during the Persian and Hellenistic periods of Israel's history (ca. 538-165 BCE). Scholars designate this collection of fifteen psalms "the Songs of Ascents," a title they also bore in the Hebrew scriptures. They appear to have existed as a separate collection before the Psalter was assembled in its present form. They may have been used by pilgrims approaching the temple at one or other of the great festivals.

 

It is also known that the minor priests who assisted in ritual observances and guarded the temple gates, Levites as they were called, did not reside in Jerusalem at all times, but were divided in "courses" which came up to the city to perform their customary duties for a limited time. (See also 1 Chron. 28:21; 2 Chron. 8:14; Neh. 12:47; 13:30).  It is possible that groups of Levitical singers used them or even composed them for their regularly scheduled return to Jerusalem.

 

This psalm refers to some unknown historical event when Israel was delivered from enemy attack. That deliverance received a wholly religious interpretation, as might be expected in a religiously oriented society. The Lord was "on their side" as vss. 1-2 boldly assert. The threat had been real, like that of a raging torrent still so common in the wadis of the Judean wilderness after a heavy rain (vss.3-5). The deliverance had been like an animal escaping from the very teeth of a predator (vs. 6), or a bird escaping from a fowler's snare (vs. 7). This latter form of hunting was an important source of food, especially among the peasant people who lived on the edge of deprivation or starvation. For game to escape in this manner often meant the difference between eating and hunger. Such homely scenes from village life found similar use as parables and metaphors in Jesus' teaching.

 

Faith does not see the events of history in a simple, factual context. Believers like the psalmist saw them through the eyes of faith and with the mind of one who knew God intimately. Thus the psalm could begin with marvel and surprise, and end with praise to God who had created a new situation in which faith could respond. The songs of Israel viewed history as the arena in which God performed God's mighty acts of salvation.


ISAIAH 51:1‑6.     [Alternate]  The unknown prophet of Israel=s exile in Babylon reassures believers in Israel=s covenant that God will intervene to change their tragic circumstances because God has never deserted them.

 

Still exiled in Babylon, the prophet appeals to his fellow Israelites to remember their history. Just as Yahweh, their God, had created them a people descended from Abraham and Sarah, so God would restore them to their homeland. Although they believed it now to be a deserted and wasted ruin, Zion would rise again and bloom like Eden. More than that, Israel had a mission to bring the light of divine justice to all peoples. In this lay their hope and their salvation. There to lay hope for all nations. Would that this could be Israel=s mission today.

 

PSALM 138.   [Alternate]  In a spirit of universalism, the psalmist offers a prayer of thanksgiving for God=s steadfast love in preserving him in troubled times because such intervention fulfils the divine purpose. It is thought that the psalm dates from the post-exilic period and could have been written for use at the time of the rebuilding of the temple (circa 520 BCE). The psalmist is speaking as an individual, but also as a representative of the whole nation.

 

So recently returned from exile, the Israelites could recognize that other peoples worshiped different gods. It would appear that monotheism had not yet completely won the day (vs. 1). But those gods have been put to shame because of their impotence while Israel=s God Yahweh compels kings of other nations to give Yahweh praise (vs. 4-5). For what Yahweh had done for Israel cannot be denied: the mighty God has regard for lowly Israel (vs. 6). Of this the return from exile despite overwhelming odds is ample proof.

 

Acknowledging that the return from exile has not gone as smoothly as hoped, yet the psalmist can still trust Yahweh to preserve his life and defeat the enemy (vs. 7). The psalm close with a prayer of trust as poignant as Psalm 23.

 

ROMANS 12:1-8.    Paul's theology, preaching and letter writing all had one goal: to bring his audience to an understanding of faith in its Christian form and to commit themselves to a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ. He proclaimed primarily, if not exclusively, an ethical gospel and theology made possible by the living Christ. It was good news for ethical living.

 

Nowhere in all the Pauline corpus does this come to the fore more explicitly than in this passage. Scholars define the type of teaching in this segment, a form common to all his letters, as paraenesis or exhortation. In many respects it has become a standard homiletic method ever since: one sets forth the truth of the gospel, then one exhorts the congregation in ways to carry into daily living.

 

Paul has the example of Christ in mind as he begins his exhortation. "The living sacrifice" he envisioned (vs. 1) was the death and resurrection of Jesus, now spiritually evident in the lives of the Roman community. As the late Professor Gerald Cragg stated so exquisitely concerning the resurrection imagery of this sentence: "The new life (in Christ) is the life which has been sacrificed - offered to God.  We cease to live to or for ourselves; we are under obligation to serve God in all we are and do. The truest sacrifice therefore is to love according to God's will.... The freedom of the dedicated life is the secret of self-fulfillment; barren self-discipline is its denial."  (The Interpreter's Bible, vol. IX, 581.)

 

Without question this requires a transformation from what we may naturally desire and what God desires of us. So Paul's second sentence declares (vs. 2) This discernment of the "good ... acceptable ... and perfect" will of God does not come easily, as every experienced Christian surely knows. A fortuitous choice of a title for a committee charged with assisting a person who has experience a call to ministry to discover whether this was in fact a genuine call of God is "the discernment committee." The committee is made up primarily of lay members of the same congregation as the candidate in order that the whole material, moral and spiritual environment out of which the candidate comes will be recognized as the arena in which the call of God occurs.

 

However prodigious his mental capacities, Paul never avoided from his basic conviction that the grace of God had activated his own conversion and continued to inspire directly his every declaration of what the saving gospel meant. Nor was he afraid of engaging his considerable intellectual abilities in his preaching and teaching, and encouraging others to do the same (vs. 3). His frequent referral to the Hebrew scriptures he had learned so well under Rabbi Gamaliel provide ample evidence of this. As a Hellenistic Jew of the Diaspora, faith and intellect were the touchstones of his ministry.  He was also willing to learn from others (cf. Gal. 1:18-19) as well as defend his own insights and experience in intense discussion with other apostles (cf. Acts 15).

 

Out of this combination of faith and knowledge grew Paul's unique image of the universal Christian fellowship as the Body of Christ. Each person contributed his or her own special gifts to the whole as one of the many diverse members of the body (vss. 4-8; cf. 1 Cor. 1:10-17). The imagery of our hymnody, homiletics, theology, polity and praxis of the church would be sadly impoverished if Paul's inspired mind had not brought forth this profound metaphor.

 

MATTHEW 16:13-20.     Many dogmatic and ecclesiastical issues surface in the analysis of this reading. Not the least of these are the primacy of Peter and hence of the claim to the papacy by the bishop of Rome. Another is the nature of the authority ostensibly given by Christ to the apostles. On the other hand, scholars have long debated whether the words attributed to Jesus are in fact a valid rendition of what he may have said on this occasion. Of greater significance, however, is Peter=s confession that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God.

 

A curious anomaly arises as soon as we realize the location of this incident. Caesarea Philippi lies in the foothills of Mount Lebanon, some 2000 feet above sea level. This  location has three significant religious, geographical and political aspects: It is an ancient holy place honouring the pagan pastoral god Pan. It was of one of three sources of the Jordan River which fed its waters about 25 turbulent miles southward into the Sea (actually lake) of Galilee some 700 feet below sea level. Herod Philip, a contemporary of Jesus as the tetrarch  of Trachonitis and other provinces east of the Jordan, built his summer residence here after his father=s death in 4 BCE. Jesus would have been well aware of all this. Did he lead his disciples to this site because he wanted them to recognize him in a setting totally different from the familiar shores of the Sea of Galilee? Did he want them to see him as the Messiah of the whole world, not just of the Jews?

 

The response of the disciples to his penetrating questions casts the importance of the event into sharp relief. At first they linked him with Israel=s prophetic history. Undoubtedly the general populace saw him as one of the prophets, as did they. The tradition held that Elijah would return to announce the coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist fitted that role and had suffered death by execution at the order of Herod Antipas, half-brother of Philip.

 

But it was Peter=s declaration that made all the difference in Matthew=s narrative of how the disciples perceived Jesus. The are echoes of Psalm 2:7 and Matthew=s baptismal and temptation narratives (Matt. 3:17; 4:3) in this confession. In some respects, this is also the climax of Matthew=s Gospel. Everything that has gone before has served to present Jesus as the Messiah, or AGod=s anointed.@ A title also used in reference to Israel=s Davidic monarchs. The remainder of the Gospel points out how different a Messiah he was compared to traditional Jewish expectations. The designation Ason of God@ is found to limited extent in the Old Testament and more commonly in the extra-biblical Wisdom literature. In the New Testament it had almost exclusively a christological connotations connected with belief in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. Those events served to describe metaphorically Jesus= unique relationship to God. This passage verbalizes that relationship in as few words as possible. It was, as Jesus declared in response to Peter, a revelation. It still is for us.