Bible Tuesday for Sunday, August 17th, 2014

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and refrains from doing any evil.

Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,

‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
‘I am just a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— 7these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

This part of Isaiah (aka 3rd Isaiah) is decided to the Israelites returning and already returned from exile. In this passage God is laying out new policies of inclusion for Israel. According to the book of Leviticus, those who were mutilated in the genitals in any way were not included in the Chosen People of God. They were unclean and to be cast out. But here, in the first four verses, note that God changes God’s own law and includes these.

Also, those who are not from Israel, not Jewish by birth, God also welcomes warmly. God says that their offerings will be accepted and that God will gather them into Jerusalem even with those Israelites already gathered. In other words, God sees the chosen people as way bigger than the Jews themselves see it.

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—[b] 2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.

6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

This psalm is a prayer for good harvests. In verse one, note the echo of the Aaronic Blessing, “May God make his face shine on your and be gracious to you.”

The psalm ends with “so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.” The Hebrew Study Bible translates this “and be revered to the ends of the earth.” The thought of being afraid of God is counter intuitive. We want to know God and have a comfortable intimacy with God. Being afraid of God seems harmful to our relationship with God. However, I think that if we do not have some fear of God in our end of the God/me relationship, than it is a stunted, immature relationship on our part.

God is imminent and transcendent, or right here with us and so totally beyond our comprehension that we cannot really even begin to understand God. It is the imminent part of God with which we can develop some comfort, and I think it is the totally-beyond part of God that should be truly frightening and awe inspiring. That healthy awe and fear is very much like the feeling one gets when looking over the edge into the Grand Canyon. It is stunning, and it is beyond our comprehension and one wrong move and it is the end of us.

Romans 11:1-2, 29-32

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, 29for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Paul continues his treatise on how important the Jewish people are to the salvation of all creation. It is through Abraham that God establishes the covenant of his protection and care. Jesus is the ultimate expression of that covenant, the one, perfect bloom on the rose bush which is Judaism. “Lo, how a rose ‘er blooming from tender stem hath sprung…”

How darkly ironic, and self mutilating it is that throughout the last 2,000 years of history, Christians have sought to wound, destroy, and eradicate Jews.

Matthew 15:10-28

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ 13He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.* And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ 15But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ 16Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

The whole of chapter 15 is Jesus teaching on what is acceptable and unacceptable to God. The Hebrew Old Testament Law was written based on actions; you may or may not do this or that. If you do or don’t do what is commanded, the penalties are thus and such. However, the prophets usually prophesied about the hearts and minds of the Israelite people. “Rend your hearts and not your clothing!” “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

In the Hebrew language, there are several words for “us Jews”, “us Hebrews”, “us Chosen by God”, “us clansmen”. But there is one word for others, “goyim”. In Greek it is “ethnos” from where we get the word “ethnic”. Who are ethnic people? Everyone else outside “us”. They wear the weird clothes and eat the wrong foods and say the wrong prayers and have the wrong hairstyles. We are us, from this land. They are goyim, ethnos, other people. In Jewish law, the goyim were unclean. Jews could not eat with them, and had very limited social interaction with them.

But here in chapter 15, Jesus follows the tradition of the prophets and turns the commandments inward. Jesus teaches that you do not get unclean kooties from certain inanimate objects or certain people. You exhibit uncleanliness by what you think, say, and do.

Then, to illustrate the point, Jesus travels with his disciples to land beyond Israelite territory. He and his disciples are chased down by a desperate “Canaanite” woman. Canaanites were enemies of Jews from the first time Abraham traveled to Canaan to claim it as the land God promised him and his descendants. There were battles and wars between Jews and Canaanites for hundreds of years. So Jesus is approached by this ages old enemies of the Jews who treats Jesus very differently than his own people do. Whereas the Pharisees and Sadducees scoff at Jesus, this Canaanite calls him “Lord, Son of David.” Whereas the Jews as for signs and miracles, this Canaanite begs, “Lord, help me.” Whereas the Jewish authorities have no respect for Jesus, and the Jewish crowds only stay with Jesus while he is healing them and feeding them, this goya (single for “goyim”) calls Jesus Lord.

First Jesus ignores her. Then he speaks cruelly to her, calling her a dog. Dogs were unclean animals that had to snatch food where they could among Jewish communities. No Jew had dogs as work animals or pets. If dogs got food from Jews, it would be scavenging after meals. Accepting that she was not a Jew and therefore would not receive A list treatment, this woman begged for the leftovers with which she would satisfy her daughter. Not among the Jews, but among the goyim does Jesus find real faith. Real faith acknowledges that we have nothing whereby God owes us. Every covenant that God has made with God’s people, those people have broken shamelessly. Even in consideration of these covenants, God owes us nothing. This woman knows that but out of love for her daughter she comes begging. At the end of the above selection from Romans, Paul states, “32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” The sooner we embody this truth, the better.