Bible Tuesday for Lent V 2016

Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

This portion of Isaiah is a message of encouragement and hope for the Israelites who will soon be leaving captivity in Babylonia and returning to Canaan, the promised land. God reminds the Israelites that once before, God brought them home despite their humiliated, enslaved state, and their doubt in God, a god they had all but forgotten. God says, “You thought your escape from Egypt was something?! I tell you, that was nothing compared to what I will do for you now!” The road from Babylonia to Canaan/Israel is a dry and barren one but God promises blooming deserts and wadis flowing with water!

Psalm 126

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,*
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

When the southern portion of Israel, referred to in the Bible as Judah, was conquered by Babylonia, the educated and ruling classes of Israelites were hauled away into captivity. For the Israelites to be defeated by a foreign power meant that God/Yahweh was either not as strong as the Babylonian idols, or that Yahwah had abandoned Israel due to sin. The Israelites wrote a psalm to remember their broken hearted and debased defeat.

“Psalm 137 – By the rivers of Babylon, there was sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion [the hill on which God’s temple was
built, which the Babylonian army had razed]. There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, for our captors asked us there for sons, and our tormentors, for amusement, saying ‘Sing us one of those songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the Lord on alien soil?!”

The Israelites believed that God/Yahweh had abandoned them. They reasoned that since they had abandoned the worship of Yahweh and put up pagan altars in God’s temple and had offered sacrifices and incense on the tops of hills and under tall trees (aka: the high places) to Baal and Ashura, God is punishing us. When the people of Jerusalem saw God temple on Mount Zion leveled, they were sure that God had left them. So they state in Psalm 137.

But now in 126 the Israelites are singing with overflowing joy! God is restoring them to their homes in Canaan (aka: Israel, the Promised Land). Their captivity is over! Their punishment is ended!

Philippians 3:4-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,* the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ* and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;* but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved,* I do not consider that I have made it my own;*but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly* call of God in Christ Jesus.

While a couple of ancient books outside of the Bible (aka: extracanonical) give descriptions of Paul ( “The Acts of Paul and Thekla”), the first verses of this passage give us the best Biblical description of him. Paul tells his readers that he is as Jewish as they come! Paul describes himself as a natural born Jew who has followed the law from birth. He even tells us that he is a Pharisee, a political/religious position for which he underwent many years of education and scrutiny. In that position as Pharisee, Paul at first arrested and persecuted the followers of Jesus, believing them to be heretics. All of this gained him respect from most of his fellow Jews, prestige among Jewish leaders, and a “closer relationship of honor with God”.

However, through Paul’s encounter with Jesus and his training and experience with Barnabas and other early Christians, Paul’s heart and mind were completely transformed. Paul came to realize that nothing generated by humans can earn them anything from God. Rather, through Jesus, God grants his full grace, favor, faithfulness, and love, to all humanity, and redeems all of creation.

Paul’s Jewish credentials count for nothing before God, because they don’t need to, indeed, they cannot because they are not perfect. Not Paul, nor anyone in all human history has ever kept God’s Law perfectly except Jesus, and even kept the spirit of the law but not necessary the exact letter of the law. (ie. Not washing hands before eating, picking grains on the sabboth, healing on the sabboth, etc.) Therefore, Paul proclaims that what is needed is faith in/relationship with Christ Jesus. “Making it my own” I interpret to mean believing in, trusting in, putting all his weight on who Jesus said he is and what he said he did.

John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them* with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii* and the money given to the poor?’ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it* so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

This story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume and wiping them with her hair appears in all four gospels. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the woman is not identified. In Matthew and Mark, the woman is not described and it is Jesus head which is anointed. In Luke, the woman is described as pornea or somehow living an unclean lifestyle. In English, the word is commonly translated in “of bad reputation.” In the gospel of John, the woman is described is Lazarus’ sister, Mary; the same sister that appears in the “Mary and Martha” story, and in the story of Lazarus’ death and resurrection.

But, somehow in the machinations of church tradition and myth making, this anointing woman whom Jesus defends, is frequently assumed to be Mary Magdalene, not Mary, Lazarus’ sister, or another woman entirely. Now, all of the gospels mention Mary Magdalene as one of Jesus’ disciples who was at the cross as he died and at the tomb on Easter morning. Luke describes Mary Magdalene as “some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and…many others, who provided for them [Jesus and the apostles] out of their own resources.” In other words, while church tradition from the second century onward, even showing up in “Jesus Christ Super Star”, says that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and that in an act of humility, gratitude, and contrition, she lavished perfume on Jesus and wiped it off with her hair, the Bible says that a) Mary of Magdala wasn’t a woman of any kind of bad reputation, and b) she had nothing to do with this perfume incident. (Magdalene means “of Magdala”. Magdala was a town on the Sea of Galilee which was famous throughout the Roman Empire for its fish sauce.)

The pound in Roman measurements was only equal to about 12 ounces. Nard was a perfumed ointment imported from the Himalayas and would cost a peasant a year’s wages. So this is a Coke can full of petroleum jelly type stuff slathered all over Jesus’ feet and worked in the Mary’s hair. No matter how you slice it, this is an extravagant act one would only do for the most loved, most adored, most revered person. How difficult it would be on the receiving end of such an act! And chapters later, Jesus will perform this same act, minus the perfume and hair parts, on his disciples and apostles. Just as Mary wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, so Jesus will wipe the feet of his followers.

“So that she might keep it for my burial.” It was Jewish tradition to wash and anoint the dead before burial within 24 hours of death. A pound of more of perfumed ointment was customary.

The New Interpreter’s Bible “The expression ‘not because he cared about the poor’ echoes the description of the hired hand’s lack of care for the sheep in John 10:13. The use of these words suggests that the description of Judas is intended to point the reader toward the proper context in which to place Judas’ actions. When Judas betrays Jesus, he also betrays the sheep.”

“You always have the poor with you but you do not always have me.” This is a hard saying for us to understand. It is repeated in Matthew 26:11 and Mark 14:7. To lavish extravagantly on Jesus appears to fly in the face of, “If you have two coats, give one away.” However, the gospel writer of John is using this story to emphasize that response to Jesus is an urgent thing. Face to face contact with Jesus for people is very limited and time specific.

In addition, this story shows the extremes that are developing among Jesus’ followers as the gospel moves toward Jesus’s passion. While Judas is preparing to betray Jesus, Mary is lavishing him with very aromatic ointment. Soon both acts with culminate: Jesus will be arrested and executed, and will be laid hastily in a tomb.