INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year A - Proper 4

[NOTE: Throughout the Season After Pentecost the RCL provides a set of alternate lessons which some denominations prefer to use. A summary of these readings is also included below.]

GENESIS 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19. Recent research has raised the intriguing possibility that behind the stories of a great flood in many cultures lay a terrifying event. The breaking through of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean Sea may have destroyed a living civilization on the shores of what we now know as northern Turkey.

The biblical story is told from a Jewish religious point of view about God’s anger at human sin and God’s promise never again to destroy all creation in one totally destructive act.

PSALM 46. This psalm lifts up the twin themes of the sovereignty of God over creation and human history. It also envisions a place of refuge where God is exalted.

DEUTERONOMY 11:18-21, 26-28. [Alternate] The Deuteronomic formula for faithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God finds its clearest expression in these two excerpts. The Law Moses had received from God had been set before the people of Israel for only one purpose: to provide them with straightforward rules for maintaining their relationship with God. Obeying the law would bring them divine blessing; disobedience would bring them a divine curse.

PSALM 31:1-5, 19-24. [Alternate] This prayer states very clearly be blessings of faithfulness. God is a refuge and a saviour even in the most desperate circumstances. God gives joy and all necessary help to those who trust and love God above all.

ROMANS 1:16-17; 3:22b-31. This selective reading of Paul’s most difficult letter reveals Paul’s passion for righteous living based on faith in Jesus Christ. It sums up his message proclaimed consistently in all his letters: All have sinned; but God’s solution to the problem of our sin is found in the sacrifice of Jesus. Because of this God now regards the sinful as righteous when we believe in what God has done for us through Christ. With this faith that our relationship with God has been restored, we can life as God desires.

MATTHEW 7:21-29: It is probable that the short bits and pieces of the Sermon on the Mount were spoken by Jesus at different times and in different places. This ending to the “sermon” challenges us to live what we believe, rather than just go through the routines of devotion. Above all else, Jesus spurned those whose behaviour revealed their hypocrisy because their actions did not correspond with their pious words. At the same time, his vivid parable of the two houses, one built on rock, the other on sand, revealed how destructive hypocritical living can be for those who choose that way. Even a child can understand this.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

GENESIS 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19. Since the story of Noah’s Flood was last in the cycle of RCL lessons, a dramatic new theory has been proposed and promising archeological research has begun to confirm the evidence behind the theory. The following review from the National Geographic Magazine website briefly outlines what this research has discovered.

Two American geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman theorize that the origin of the many legends in widely separated cultures lay in the melting of Ice Age from several thousands of years ago. During the Ice Age, the Black Sea was an isolated freshwater lake surrounded by farmland. About 12,000 years ago, toward the end of the Ice Age, as Earth began growing warmer, glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere began to melt. Oceans and seas grew deeper as a result. About 7,000 years ago the Mediterranean Sea seawater pushed northward, slicing through what is now Turkey. Funneled through the narrow Bosporus Straight, the water flooded into the Black Sea with 200 times the force of Niagara Falls. The Black Sea rose, flooding coastal farm land. Seared into the memories of terrified survivors, the tale of the flood was passed down through the generations and eventually became in Hebrew scripture, among numerous similar legends from other cultures, the Noah story of Genesis 6-9.

Subsequent underwater research by Robert Ballard has turned up evidence of an ancient shoreline of the Black Sea, some interesting artifacts and the remains of human habitation that pre-date anything previously discovered. Radiocarbon dating of shells from freshwater and saltwater mollusk species also support the theory of a freshwater lake inundated by the Black Sea some 7,000 years ago. [© 1999 National Geographic Society.]

The scant evidence and a hypothetical theory do not yet warrant conclusive scientific proof. But all legends are based some often undecipherable human experience as well as vivid poetic imagination. This source of the flood story does seem at least plausible and warrant further investigation.

The story as we now have in Genesis 6-9 is told from a theological point of view. Israel’s experience of Yahweh as a God of justice demanded an explanation of how Yahweh regards the sinfulness of humanity. The flood story, Noah’s salvation through obedience to divine command, and Yahweh’s subsequent covenant with Noah and his descendants is without question a legend woven into Israel’s faith-history from the prehistoric period of the ancient Middle East. OT scholars find the actual text to be a conflation of three different documents – the Jahwist from the 10^th century BCE, the Priestly, from the 6^th century BCE and a later recension of the Priestly document. The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonian culture lay behind the Israelite versions of the story.

Undoubtedly the experience of Israel’s exile in Babylon figured largely in the development of the story as it now stands. The final Priestly recension presents us with the essential truth learned during the suffering of exile: God created the world for goodness, yet evil is rampant wherever humans interact with each other and with God.

Human wickedness, revolting against the divine purpose in creation brings retribution.

Our generation of the human race may still read this lesson with meaningful interpretation and apply it to our own experience in our global village.

PSALM 46. This psalm lifts up twin themes always prevalent in Hebrew thought and especially in the Psalter: the sovereignty of Yahweh over creation and over human history. It also envisions the temple as a place of refuge where Yahweh is exalted. Few psalms combine these themes of the power and presence of Yahweh as does this one.

Because of it repeated refrain voicing reassurance of the divine presence in the most troubling times, some scholars believe it may have arisen out of some unidentifiable historical event. Subsequently it may have been adapted for liturgical use in some great festival like that celebrating the New Year when the main emphasis was placed on divine sovereignty.

Another noteworthy emphasis of the psalm should not be overlooked – that of the prophetic spirit and the vision of the later prophets of a warless world under Yahweh’s dominion. This would seem to place the origin of the psalm in the late post-exilic period.

The two references to nature, one evil and one good – an earthquake and “the river whose streams make glad the city of God” – may have only symbolic meaning. Earthquakes are relatively common in the Holy Land. There are records of at least seventeen major earthquakes during the past two thousand years. In earlier times without any knowledge of the geological structures and volcanic activity, it was inevitable that such events would be attributed to the deity. They were to be interpreted theologically as one of many divine means of revelation. In this instance, volcanic tremors so severe that mountains shook and seas roiled and foamed, could only point to a specially significant revelation. Fear being the natural human reaction to a severe earthquake, the psalmist instinctively saw the event as a sign of Yahweh’s protective presence.

The river watering the Holy City may have referred to an active spring such as or even a stream flowing down the Kidron Valley. From ancient times in a land where water is a very scarce resource, flowing water was thought to be a divine gift and the habitation of spirits. A flowing spring would have been particularly important during one of the many sieges Jerusalem endured. One of the gates of Jerusalem restored by Nehemiah was known as the Fountain Gate (Neh. 2:14; 3:15; 12:37 cf. 2 Kings 25:4; Jer. 39:4; 52:7) One can easily imagine a water source of such significance being celebrated by a psalmist-poet of that era.

DEUTERONOMY 11:18-21, 26-28. [Alternate] The Deuteronomic formula for faithfulness to Israel’s covenant with God finds its clearest expression in these two excerpts. The Law Moses had received from God had been set before the people of Israel for only one purpose: to provide them with straightforward choices for maintaining their relationship with God. Obeying the law would bring them divine blessing; disobedience would bring them a divine curse.

Also imbedded in the first of these passages we find instructions for Jewish parents to guide their children in keeping the faith and in publicly witnessing to their faith with specific symbols. These instructions had considerable significance for Jewish parents because most religious education took place in the home until very recent times.

In our time, only the most orthodox Jews follow explicitly all the directions for the symbols of their faith detailed here. Mezuzahs can still be seen on the doorposts of some Jewish homes. These are small containers of parchment with religious texts written on them. Also, when some orthodox Jews prepare to pray, one sees them attach phylacteries or small cubicle boxes to their foreheads just below the hairline which also contain parchments bearing sacred texts. The wearing of a yarmulka or kuppa to cover the head, more commonly seen in public today, developed only in Talmudic Judaism of the 2^nd to 6^th centuries CE. It represents the recognition that God is above us, acceptance of the 613 mitzvot (commandments), and identification with the Jewish people. Wearing a cross as a piece of jewelry represents similar demonstration of faith for some Christians.

As it stands now the psalm has a very complex structure. It may have been meant to serve as a set of prayers for a troubled soul pouring out his/her complaint to God (vss. 1-8; 9-12; 13-18) which later became a series of three laments for congregational use. Typically, the laments end with thanksgiving to God for God’s gracious response. In this excerpt we have only part of the first lament and the concluding thanksgiving. The psalmists use of material drawn from other psalms suggests a late post-exilic date.

The first segment of the reading pleads for help in some unstated and still impending trouble. The psalmist bases his petition on his trust is God’s protection. The prayer must have been so widely used in Jewish liturgies that vs. 5 became one of the “seven words from the cross” first quoted in Luke 23:36 and much celebrated in Stainer’s oratorio *Crucifixion* and other similar musical works of the 19^th century. The concluding hymn of thanksgiving conveys a convincing witness to faithfulness under duress.

ROMANS 1:16-17; 3:22b-31. At first, one may wonder why the two excerpts have been pieced together in the one reading. A second look helps one realize that the theme of both selections is one and the same: the linkage between faith and righteousness. This selective reading of Paul’s most difficult letter reveals Paul’s passion for righteous living based entirely on one’s relationship with God through Jesus Christ. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, this relationship can only exist through faith. The two selections sum up Paul’s message consistently proclaimed in all his letters: All have sinned and have isolated ourselves from God. But God’s solution to the problem is found in the sacrifice of Jesus. Because of this God now regards the sinful as righteous when we believe in what God has done for us through Christ. With this faith that our relationship with God has been restored, we can life as God desires.

When Paul thought of atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood, he had in mind the whole Jewish liturgy for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The liturgy provided for the shedding of the blood of innocent animal victims, one whose blood was sprinkled symbolically on both the altar and on the people and one driven away into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people away. (See Leviticus 16 for the details.) This annual celebration provided Jews with an awareness of God’s forgiveness and a renewed consciousness of their worthiness to regard themselves as the covenant people having a special relationship with God. By this liturgy their special relationship had once more been established with the God who had faithfully preserved them and God’s chosen people through the ages. Since their God could only be regarded as holy, their covenanted relationship with God restored them as God’s holy people.

One of Paul’s great insights into the nature of this holy relationship was that this special status depended not on the performance of rituals or the faithful performance of numerous laws. Rather it depended on the faith that God has acted in Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice to restore all those who believed in him.

Another important aspect of Paul’s complex view of atonement posited the astonishing possibility that the sacrifice of Christ was not for Jews alone. The atonement liturgy of the Jews like himself had been exclusively for Jews by birth and circumcision and those others who had chosen to become Jews through the symbolic covenanting act of male circumcision. Now however, the atoning sacrifice of Christ had made it possible for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, to be forgiven of their sins and restored once and for all time to the same special holy relationship with God that Jews believed they enjoyed.

This, then, is the significance of Paul’s claim in these two selections that not only have all sinned, but that all have also been restored to a right relationship with God. He reiterates again and again that all have been justified only because God did it through the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

MATTHEW 7:21-29: It is probable that the short bits and pieces of the Sermon on the Mount were spoken by Jesus at different times and in different places. This ending to the “sermon” challenges us to live what we believe, rather than just go through the routines of devotion. Above all else, Jesus spurned those whose behaviour revealed their hypocrisy because their actions did not correspond with their pious words. At the same time, the vivid parable of the two houses, one built on rock, the other on sand, revealed how destructive hypocritical living can be for those who choose that way. Even a child can understand this.

One frequently repeated phrase in the Hebrew scriptures is “to call on the name of the Lord.” To use this phrase meant to invoke the saving help of God in desperate situations. Yet it was more than just a cry for help. It expressed a trust in the revealed nature and character of God. God may be invisible and transcendent, but God is also immanent and ever-present. God acts in every situation where faith exists and God is trusted to achieve God’s will and purpose through all our very human actions.

The nature of religious experience leads to the conclusion that everyone who believes wants to be in God’s presence, “to enter the kingdom of heaven.” But not every religious person wants God to do God’s will in every circumstance, especially when we must make sacrifices or face personal loss. It is just such situations that may well lie behind these contrasting quotations from the Sermon on the Mount. In the first excerpt, the words attributed to Jesus were directed to those who desire a perfect relationship with God but lack a complete trust in and obedience to God’s holy will.

The second excerpt states unequivocally that what we do matters more than what we say. The key words are not “hear these words,” but “acts on them.” The authority of Jesus rested on the authenticity of his actions, not merely the words he uttered.

In 1986, I was privileged as a Commissioner to The General Council of The United Church of Canada to participate in expressing a sincere apology to the Native People of Canada for depriving them of their lands, languages, cultures and religious traditions over the past several centuries. The apology was spoken by our Moderator, Rt. Rev. Robert Smith, during an impressive late night ceremony around a sacred native campfire on the grounds of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. This was the first time that any Canadian institution has taken such a step.

The next morning, elders of the Native Peoples from across Canada dressed in full native regalia came to the General Council assembled in an official session to give their reply. In a very few words, the speaker of the Native Peoples told more than 400 Commissioners representing the whole church, “We accept your apology. Now what are you going to do about it?”

For the past seventeen years, we have been struggling at great cost to respond to that challenge as we have delved deeper and deeper into our past relationships with Native People and have seen what our blind prejudices, aggression and brutal abuse has done to them. The end of the story has not yet been told nor the total cost calculated. What we have learned from this experience is the same as the lesson of this passage from Matthew’s Gospel: “Behaviour matters.”

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