Proof Texts
Friday, September 1, 2006 -- Week of Proper 16 (David Pendleton Okerhater)
"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 981)
Psalm 16, 17 (morning) // 22 (evening)
Job 9:1-15, 32-35
Acts 10:34-48
John 7:37-52
Proof Texts
When the crowds heard Jesus their hearts were moved. The goodness of his words and deeds were evident. Naturally, the question arose. Is this the Messiah?
Most who were familiar with the messianic prophecies of scripture rejected Jesus. He could not be the Messiah because he did not fulfill the expectations of scripture. In today's gospel we read one of these stories of rejection. Jesus can't be the Messiah or a prophet because he is from Galilee, a Gentile-influenced region in the extreme north of Israel. The Bible says that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem in Judea, far south of Galilee. Search the Scripture, they say. Nowhere does it say that even a prophet is to arise from Galilee. Biblical proof text. Jesus can't be the Messiah.
We have a story that Matthew and Luke offer placing Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Scholars are divided about these stories. It may indeed be historical fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David. Nazareth was a town settled by a branch of the family of David. There was a census near the time when Jesus could have been born, but several historical facts don't quite line up. Some scholars believe that some of the stories like Jesus' birth in Bethlehem were created later as legends that became attached to the saga. Many of those stories evolved, say these scholars, as the church proclaimed Jesus to be the fulfillment of the prophets. Those scholars see stories like the Bethlehem birth as prophecy historicized rather than history remembered.
It's obvious that the people arguing about Jesus' Messiahship in today's passage knew nothing of a Bethlehem connection. They debated about Jesus of Nazareth. No prophet or Messiah is to come from Galilee, says the Bible, so Jesus can't be the one.
Job's situation has some parallels. Bildad has just argued that God is just. God always upholds the innocent and punishes the guilty. That is religious orthodoxy. Therefore, he tells Job, you and your children must have sinned. Your punishment is the evidence. Yet Job insists. I am innocent. But what court can hear his complaint? None. Job is stuck. His experience is contrary to what everyone knows from scripture and tradition.
Peter finds himself in a similar dilemma in our story from Acts 10. Peter knows that Gentiles are unclean. The scripture says so. Scripture and tradition provided careful boundaries between Gentile and Jew. But Peter's trust in those ancient boundaries has just been challenged by a vision. He believes God has told him that certain animals designated by scripture as unclean are not actually unclean. Now that vision is being extended to people. He sees the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Gentiles of the Roman officer Cornelius' house. Peter baptizes them. He accepts the witness of the Spirit to reinterpret the witness of Scripture.
I find these stories ironic proof texts. They tell us that if you try to interpret the scripture literally, you are likely to miss what God is actually doing. These scriptures are cautioning us about scripture. Messiahs can come from Galilee. Innocent people suffer unjustly. Those thought to be unclean may be God's people too.
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posted by Lowell @ 7:23 AM
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