The Gospel of Matthew: Then and Now

Tuesday, December 8, 2015 

            Biblical scholars W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann write in the standard reference work on Matthew, “Matthew is the most familiar of the gospels, best known for its parables, miracle narratives, and the long Sermon on the Mount.  Recognized by the early church as the most fitting introduction to the New Testament, its special concern is introducing is to announce Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  Hence its emphasis on the Law, and ethics based on the traditional theology of the Covenant, and the centrality of the Messianic hope.”

            I am not quite sure what I think about birth, life, death, and resurrection being “foretold” in the Old Testament, particularly as the Messiah.  However, I always emphasized to my students at Temple and elsewhere that these passages had their own historical basis and credibility in the events of their time or in the near future.  These settings must be understood in order to do justice to the text as it was written.  Beyond that, each person must decide for themselves how else these passages may be understood.  Certainly Albright and Mann contend, Jesus “must be understood firmly within the framework of ascertainable Jewish tradition in first-century Palestine.”  Moreover, these two biblical scholars believe that Matthew is a “highly reliable early source for the ministry of Jesus.”  Let’s see what this biblical book tells us about Jesus’ birth.  (We will focus on the genealogy next week when we look at the significance of the four women that are included in it.)

            The gospel of Matthew focuses on Joseph, rather than Mary as we saw last week in Luke.  The repeated focus is on God’s revelation coming through an angel in a dream to him.  When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, Albright and Mann’s translation (Anchor Bible) of what follows is “Joseph, being a man of character, and unwilling to shame her, wished to divorce her secretly.  But as he agonized about this,” an angel appeared to him in a dream, telling him what to do: i.e. marry Mary.  Joseph obeyed God’s messenger.  Many of us also agonize about what God’s will is for our lives.  In my mind, this struggle suggests an active relationship between myself and the Divine.  However, sometimes instead I have seen my struggle as one of doubt, but I have come to see that encompassed in what seems like doubt is a yearning for a deeper relationship with the Almighty, for a closeness that is life-giving.  In the case of Joseph, his agony led to the most life-giving of all the decisions of our faith: allowing the young woman to conceive and bear a son, whom many will call Emmanuel, or “God with us.”  Let us think of our times of agonizing over what we should do: What college to attend or which major to pursue?  Whether or not we should start over again in a new job or retire?  In all of these decisions, Emmanuel is with us, too.  May our decisions be life-affirming, rather than denying the splendor of the God who is within us and believes in us.

Galilee in the First Century; Our World in the Twenty-First Century

Monday, December 7, 2015 

            Early Christianity and the Judaism out of which it grew were heavily influenced by the Greco-Roman world.  While they oftentimes resisted those around them, that resistance itself modified the two religions.  Over the course of a few hundred years, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans conquered the Holy Land and sometimes much of the Mediterranean world.  This made the practice of Judaism and Christianity difficult.  Most of the life and work of Jesus occurred in the very troubled spot of Galilee.  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, since much of Judaism (the background of most of the disciples at that time) was centered in Jerusalem, as Michael Card points out in his book by that name, oftentimes this led to a “crisis of identity” in the followers of Jesus.  Several questions may have posed themselves to those who ultimately came to be called “Christians:” Were they Christians or were they Jews?  What place did Judea and particularly Jerusalem have in their lives right now?  These questions were also part of the later churches with whom Paul had dialogues with through his letters and visits.  In essence, they struggled with who they really were.  As time went on, their identities needed to be redefined, which is true for us in our own growth as Christians as well.

            Michael Card in his book Matthew: The Gospel of Identity encourages us to also contemplate “who we really are in Christ.”  Is our definition of ourselves and one another in keeping with how God sees us?  If we don’t know or are confused about it, we are in good company, as we have seen.  The audience of Matthew’s gospel didn’t know either.  In fact, I contend that they did not know who Jesus really was either: God did what?  Sent a baby to conquer the Romans (in some of their minds)?  Sometimes it helps to not just use our minds, but also our imaginations and ability to dream in contemplating these questions.  I am very touched by Neal Donald Walsch’s comment that “most people believe in God, they just don’t believe in a God who believes in them.”  Indeed, God believes in us, even so that a tiny baby was sent to tell us that.

            By better understanding who Jesus is, we can understand who we are better as well as by understanding who we are, we can better comprehend who Jesus not only was, but also who he is.

            We need to listen to what God says about not only ourselves, but also about other people.  May we not just believe in God, but also believe in “a God who believes in” us.  God believes in you and me and in the person sitting next to us.  May we “think on these things” as we contemplate the God who showed how much we are loved by sending a little baby who grew into a man who was the essence of love and belief in the Creator’s people.  God believes in me.  God believes in you.  God believes in our neighbor.  Welcome the Christ child in us all.

CBC’s Advent Devotional 2015

Sunday, December 6 – Friday, December 11, 2015

Lynn Wolcott 

            Welcome to the second week of this Advent Devotional.  I hope your journey has been and will be a fruitful one and will aid you in pondering the Nativity stories.  This week you and your children will travel to Australia and learn about how the families there celebrate Christmas.  Then the young people and adults will explore some tough questions and issues that are triggered by Matthew’s presentation of the immediate events leading up to and following the birth of Jesus. 

Let’s Go on a Trip to Australia for Christmas!

Sunday, December 6, 2015 

            Because they are in the southern part of the world, Christmas is still held on December 25, but it is during the summer months when the children of Australia are on vacation (from the beginning of December until the beginning of February).  They may go camping or celebrate it on the beach, where they might help their parents decorate a Christmas tree!  Some people stay at home where the children sit outside with their families on blankets, light candles, and sing Christmas carols, especially on Christmas Eve.

            Australia has people from many different countries, especially England and Ireland.    Many of the first people who moved there were prisoners who were sent to Australia as their punishment for various crimes.  The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25, 1788.  Ever since then, they usually have their main meal at lunch time; they often eat ham, cold chicken, seafood, pasta, salad, and a variety of desserts.  Do you help your parents cut out cookies and decorate them during the holidays?  The Australian children do, too.  They also make various forms of pudding, an edible Christmas wreath, and a special cake named after the Koala Bear.

            If you lived in Australia, you would help your parents decorate the inside and outside of your home.  Sometimes they have Christmas trees like ours, but usually they use native bushes from the area, such as gum tree branches that grow to be quite large.  They put a stocking under their tree, and Santa Claus (also known as “Father Christmas”) brings gifts to all the members of the family.  Santa’s sleigh doesn’t use reindeer, but kangaroos!  In some Australian traditions, because Santa’s clothes are not suitable for the warm weather in Australia, a character known as “Swag Man” has replaced him.  He wears summer clothes, including shorts, and he delivers the gifts by driving a four wheel drive truck!

            Children and their parents go to a Christmas Eve service, as you probably come to the one at CBC.  The adults and children bring gifts to the church, just like I suggested last Sunday that you bring a food item for the Food Pantry to be given to the hungry children and their Moms and Dads.  They also sing Christmas carols by candle light outside the church, just like we close our service with candles lit, while we sing “Silent Night.”

            As you can see, many countries have both similar as well as different Christmas holiday traditions that they practice each year.  Maybe Father Christmas’ sleigh will have kangaroos, and perhaps he will bring you an edible Christmas wreath or perhaps a Koala Bear cake!

Jesus at the Temple: As an Infant and as a Twelve Year Old

Luke 2.21-24, 39-52

Friday, December 4, 2015 

            The stories of Jesus at the Temple, both as an infant as well as a twelve year old boy, tell us a great deal about Jewish customs of the first century C.E., and how Jesus was raised within those traditions.  However, even as early as the age of twelve, he was challenging the status quo by knowing that his place was “in his Parent’s house” (Luke 2.49) amongst the teachers of the Temple, both listening to them and asking them questions; his understanding and his answers “amazed” everyone who heard him speak (Luke 2.46-47).  Let’s dig a little deeper into these issues.

            From the time of Jesus’ birth, and probably before as demonstrated by the Magnificat, “Mary treasured [what the angels sang as well as shepherds said] and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2.19).  We are told that everyone else was amazed, glorifying and praising God, but Mary kept what was said of her son in a special place in her mind and her heart.  Moreover, if her response with Joseph’s of not understanding what Jesus had told them about why he was in the Temple after the event of the Passover when he was twelve (Luke 2.50) is any indication of her general state of mind, there was probably a lot about Jesus that more than puzzled her.  I have put myself in her place as I have read the birth narrative in the gospel of Luke, it seems as if her whole life in relationship to her son was one of a certain amount of incomprehension of events and words that were almost too wondrous to behold.

            Jesus was raised as a Jewish boy within the customs of early first century Judaism.  He was circumcised when he was eight days old, and then when the time for purification came, he was taken to the Temple to be presented to God.  As a first-born male, he was set apart as holy to the Lord.  A sacrifice of either “’a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons’” (Luke 2.24) was made.  All of this was done in accordance with the law of Moses (Luke 2.22).  As was already reflected upon, the family also regularly went to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of the Passover.

            What does this say for us today?  We are no longer bound to fulfill the law of Moses for Jesus fulfilled it.  Rather, we live in a time of grace and love.  From these stories of Jesus as an infant and a twelve year old, there are lessons that we can learn about raising our own children, whether they are our biological children or the children in the church.  Not only can we raise them in our religious traditions, but we can also treasure their wonder in our own hearts as we envelop them in grace and love so that they can “increase in wisdom and years [or stature] and in divine and human favor” as Jesus did (Luke 2.52).  I am aware of how I have not been as nurturing of the children at CBC as I would like to be.  How can we all, not just fulfill our traditions, but also breathe the grace and love of our God into their beings?  Is there something special that I / we can begin during this Christmas season, which can become normative for 2016?

The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2.1-20

Thursday, December 3, 2015 

            Kenneth E. Bailey, who lived and taught for sixty years (1935-1995) throughout the Middle East, wrote a book called Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels.  He contends that there are a number of “critical flaws” in the traditional understanding of the birth narrative of Jesus [25].  We will examine these “critical flaws” briefly, and then note what, if any, influence they may have on our faith during this Advent season.

Joseph was traveling to his ancestral village, and in his culture that was a very significant place where his extended family lived.    In Bethlehem he would have still been considered part of the royal lineage of King David.  As a matter of fact, this village was known as the “City of David” (Luke 2.4).  Bailey contends that Joseph and Mary would have been welcome almost anywhere in that village.  They would not have been unable to find a place to stay.  Bailey also believes that from before the time of Jesus and up until the mid-twentieth century, houses had a room for the family as well as a guest room, which is the word in Greek that is used, and not the room for “inn.”  It was the guest room in the home where they were staying that was already full, so the holy family shared the family’s space.  Moreover, all were welcome to visit Jesus there after his birth, from the rich and knowledgeable wise people to what were perceived to be scummy shepherds as well as the holy angels.  From the very beginning of His life, all were welcomed. 

Secondly, women usually surround other women who are giving birth.  Considering Joseph’s royal lineage, it would have been an “unspeakable shame” for his extended family not to offer Mary aid (26).  Thirdly, Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, is an example of at least one relative that Mary also had in the area; there may well have been more.  Again, more options for places to stay than in a stable.  Finally, many Christians believe that Joseph could not wait to find a room for Mary because she was immediately in need of a place to give birth.  However, this is not stated in the language of the text.  Rather, this idea first appears in a Christian novel of the birth of Jesus that was written by a non-Jew two hundred years after His birth: The Protoevangelium of James.  (He was NOT the James who wrote the book bearing his name in the New Testament.)  Thus this is another “tradition” that has been challenged.  How many more things in our traditional reading of the Christmas story are there that we need to re-think?

In preparation for writing this devotional, I have read many pages about the Christmas season, from biblical stories to commentaries to Christmas carols.  I have found that there are so many facets, so many traditions of this holy season that we either contend are true, but probably aren’t, or have traditions that date back thousands of years before the events of our Holy Season.  And, I am referring to traditions that are ever so much more essential to our time of Advent than those around Santa Claus, for instance.  How does that make you feel?  Are you totally aware of it?  Does it shake up your faith and / or your holiday spirit?  Are you open to an alternative view of Christmas in many of its varied aspects?  Let’s go on this journey together!

The Change in Zechariah, the Change in Us

Luke 1.5-23; 2.67-79

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 

            The writer of the gospel of Luke spends a lot of time on Zechariah – 30 verses in all!  This factor alone suggests that we pay attention to him.  Although none of the sources that I consulted mention the change that occurs in Zechariah between the two major passages that concern him (Luke 1.5-23 and 2.67-79), I contend that he is markedly different after being touched by the Divine.  This leads me to reflect on the changes in me since I became more aware of the nature and power of God in August 1971.  (My goodness, that was 44 years ago!)

            We noted on Monday of this week that, despite his status as a priest, when Zechariah was told about the upcoming birth of his son, John, he did not believe, and, thus, was unable to speak.  However, after the miraculous power of God seen in the lives of his wife Elizabeth and in Mary, everyone was “amazed” and “immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and, he began to speak, praising God ” (Luke 1.63-64). After noting the people’s responses of fear and wonderment, Zechariah then sang what is known as the Benedictus (Luke 1.68-79).  Here, instead of focusing on himself, expressing his disbelief in God, Zechariah is now a changed man.  He had enough godly character to cooperate with God in raising his son John the Baptist to be the forerunner of God’s Son, Jesus.

            How about me?  Have I been changed in the 44 years since my experience in a house church in Buffalo, New York when I experienced the love of God through an offering plate that was passed around?  The purpose of that plate was twofold: to give an offering if we were able or to take a gift from the offering plate if we had a need, with no expectation of repayment.  Up until that evening, no one had ever offered me a gift without strings attached.  I took the love of God from that plate and all the gifts and responsibilities that that entailed.

            I challenge us all today – myself included – to reflect on the gifts and responsibilities that came from God’s offering plate to us, no matter how long ago that was – even now!

The Manificat: Mary’s Song, God’s Song, Our Song

Luke 1.46-56

Tuesday, December 1, 2015 

            A close reading of what has been called “The Magnificat: Mary’s Song” reveals much about God’s message as well as what human beings are to be about.  Thus, it is not just Mary’s Song, but also God’s to us, and it provides the guidelines for those people who fear the Divine.  We will examine these aspects of the Magnificat.

            Mary’s Song praises God; in fact, it has been characterized as a hymn of praise (Arthur A. Just, Jr.); I feel that it is akin to some of the hymns of praise that the faithful wrote in the biblical book by that name.  It has a profound message that really surprised me: Mary sings “God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.  Surely, from now on all nations will call me blessed.”  What I have learned is that it is okay, even praiseworthy to recognize and admit your own humility…as long as God’s holiness is acknowledged! (Arthur J. Just, Jr.)  With that caveat, it is not pride to admit (probably to yourself most often) your humility, but to recognize also that God can use people such as these people for the furtherance of the work of the Holy reign!

            Regarding God: the Gospel both begins and closes its important nurturance of the Gospel with women.  (This is not to say that men do not also play very important roles in the furtherance of God’s new reign on earth!)  Elizabeth and Mary begin the New Covenant with the birth of the two key personages: John the Baptist and Jesus.  Furthermore, all four gospels acknowledge that women were the ones who were present for Jesus while he was on the cross and / or were the first to go to the his tomb.

            The Magnificat can also be our song today.  We, too, are called to “magnify[y] the Lord” and “rejoice in God as our savior,” too (Luke 1.46).  God’s mercy “is for those who fear God from generation to generation” (Luke 1.48).  Moreover, as Peter proclaimed in Acts 10.34-35, “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears the Divine and does what is right is acceptable to God!”  We are called to accept all people, not just those who believe in Jesus, but all people who also work for justice. 

            There are so many more wonderful points of insight that can be found in Mary’s Song, God’s Song, and Our Song; why not read it carefully sometime today and reflect that Mary sang the Magnificat as a reflection of God’s message to all who fear the Almighty and who do works of justice that please the Holy One.