Zechariah 11:4-17

4 Thus said the LORD my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, "Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich"; and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD. I will cause them, every one, to fall each into the hand of a neighbor, and each into the hand of the king; and they shall devastate the earth, and I will deliver no one from their hand.

7 So, on behalf of the sheep merchants, I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!" 10 I took my staff Favor and broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep merchants, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 I then said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it into the treasury" -this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD. 14 Then I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me: Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd. 16 For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 Oh, my worthless shepherd,

who deserts the flock!

May the sword strike his arm

and his right eye!

Let his arm be completely withered,

his right eye utterly blinded! (Zechariah 11:4-17, NRSV)

On November 28, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year Two), comments were repeated from November 23, 2004, (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year Two); they are repeated again here with editing and supplement.

In yesterday’s lesson the “lack of a shepherd,” that is, a proper leader for Judah, was lamented. “Therefore the people wander like sheep; / they suffer for lack of a shepherd” (Zech. 10:2e, f). But the LORD’s word (through the prophet) follow immediately with a complaint about bad shepherds. “My anger is hot against the shepherds, / and I will punish the leaders” (v. 3a, b). These are put in contrast to the LORD himself, “for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, / and will make they like his proud war-horse” (v. 3c, d). This theme, good and bad shepherds continues in today’s reading.

In the interval we hear about what Gregory Mobley calls “the fall of the tyrants” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Zech. 11:1-3). “Open your doors, O Lebanon” says the prophet, “so that fire may devour your cedars! / Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, / for the glorious trees are ruined! / Wail, oaks of Bashan, / for the thick forest has been felled!” (11:1-2). These magnificent trees are metaphors for rulers, now fallen to ruin. But the prophet’s imagery reverts to shepherds. “Listen, the wail of the shepherds, / for their glory is despoiled!” (v. 3a, b). And the imagery moves on to lions. “Listen, the roar of the lions, / for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed!” (v. 3c, d). “Cedars, shepherds, and lions refer to the rulers,” says Mobley (ibid.). W. Sibley Towner has a rather different understanding of this stanza, but still sees the devastation.

In an ironic way Lebanon is invited to lay itself open to destruction, in contrast to the invitation to Judah to make itself open to divine nurture (10:1). The deforestation lamented by trees, animals, and rural people themselves seems to be the negative result of the overpopulation resulting from the return of numberless exiles (2:4; 10:8-12). (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Zech. 11:1-3)

In today’s reading proper, we meet what P. R. Ackroyd calls an “Allegory of the Sheep and the Shepherds” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, p. 653, sec. 571 e, on Zech. 11:4-17). At face value, we note, there are some surprising turns. In this return to the leading metaphor, shepherds, the prophet himself is told by the LORD, “Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter” (v. 4). The problem, he is told, is that Israel’s shepherds (i.e. leaders, rulers) are corrupt. There are two kinds of bad shepherds. “Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich’; and their own shepherds have no pity on them” (Zech. 11:5). According to R. Lansing Hicks and Walter Brueggemann, “those who buy and sell are the Ptolemaic overlords [i.e. Hellenistic rulers of Egypt who controlled Judah in the third century B.C.]; their own shepherds are native appointees” ( R. Lansing Hicks and Walter Brueggemann, NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Zech. 11:5). That would be rather late, but Hicks and Brueggemann cite the reference to Greece in Zechariah 9:13. Earlier, Ezekiel had denounced the shepherds of Israel for failure in leadership (Ezek. 34). The continuation doesn’t sound so much like rescue and restoration, as like abandonment to the oppression and devastation caused by tyrants. “For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD. I will cause them, every one, to fall each into the hand of a neighbor, and each into the hand of the king; and they shall devastate the earth, and I will deliver no one from their hand” (v. 6).

In any case, here God will replace the bad “shepherds”; as noted above, he directs the prophet to “Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter” (v. 4). The prophet says, “So, on behalf of the sheep merchants, I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep” (v. 7). Ackroyd comments on the earlier translation, “So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep” (v. 7a RSV 1952). “Those who trafficked,” for “sheep merchants” (NRSV), he says, “lit. Canaanites–appears wrongly divided in the Heb. text into two words” (op. cit., sec. 571 d, on v. 7). Ackroyd suggests a correction reflected in the RSV and NRSV translations: Nxco0h1 yY02n9f3 Nk2l! (lākēn ‘ ^aniyyê hatstsō’n), “verily the poor of the flock” (AV/KJV margin). The correction would read Nxco0h1 yy02n9f3n1k4l9 (likna‘ ^aniyyê hatstsō’n).

“In one month,” says the prophet, “I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me” (v. 8). According to Hicks and Brueggemann, “the three shepherds, probably contemporary officials, cannot now be identified” (op. cit., on v. 8; cf. Mobley, op. cit., on v. 8). And the prophet decides to revoke his agreement to be a shepherd. “So I said, ‘I will not be your shepherd’ ” (v. 9a). He will let the consequences fall where they may. “What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!” (v. 9b). “I took my staff Favor,” says the prophet, “and broke it, annulling the covenant (tyr9B4, b^erîth) that I had made with all the peoples” (v. 10). Apparently, the LORD stands behind the prophet in this action. “So it [i.e., the ‘covenant’] was annulled on that day, and the sheep merchants, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD” (v. 11). Ackroyd says,

The merchants [v. 7] recognize the divine word. At this point there is but a thin line between actual symbolic action and allegory; it is not so difficult to visualise the prophet in the sheep-market, dressed as a shepherd, and breaking a staff to represent his repudiation of the sheep. The onlookers see the divine purpose clearly (cf. 2:9; 4:9 for similar stress on authority). (op. cit., sec. 571 f, on v. 11).

Next we are told of a kind of “settlement” of this arrangement. “I then said to them, ‘If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver” (v. 12). According to Mobley, “thirty shekels [was] the price of a slave (Ex. 21:32),” and he adds that “in the New Testament this saying is attributed to Jeremiah (Mt. 27:3-10; cf. Mt. 26:15)” (op. cit., on v. 13). Krister Stendahl says,

The Matthean use of the quotation from Zech. 11:12-13 (cf. [Mt.] 26:15) with certain allusions to Jer. 18:2-3 and 32:6-15 (allusions which must have strengthen ed Mt.’s interpretation, hence the reference to ‘Jeremiah’) hinges upon the; Heb. words. yōtser and/or ’ôtsār since they can mean both ‘potter’ and ‘treasurer/treasury’. Hence the priests, who recognize that this money cannot be put into the treasury, bring this prophecy to its fulfilment without knowing it when they purchase the potter’s field. (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprint 1972, p. 796, sec. 694 b, on Mt. 27:3-10)

In Zechariah’s report or allegory, the thirty shekels are recognized as the insult that it is. “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it into the treasury’–this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD” (v. 13). According to Mobley, “lordly price is ironic” (loc. cit.). “Scornfully,” says Ackroyd, the prophet “casts it [i.e., the thirty shekels of silver] to the smelter in the temple foundry . . . not ‘treasury’ (RSV), which represents an emended text” (op. cit., p. 654, sec. 571 g, on vv. 12-14). “Then,” says the prophet, “I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel” (v. 14).

This reading concludes with a caricature of a shepherd. “Then the LORD said to me: Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd” (v. 15). It may be, as Mobley suggests, that “the identification of the worthless shepherd is obscure” (op. cit., on vv. 15-17), or that we continue with the allegory form. In any case, this shepherd is everything that a good shepherd should not be. “For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs” (v. 16). To apply the New Testament pastoral metaphor, this shepherd resembles more the anti-pastoral type such as Jim Jones, rather than the ideal pastor, who is “to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it–not for sordid gain but eagerly” (1 Pet. 5:2). But Zechariah has described the very antithesis of a worthy shepherd. “ Oh, my worthless shepherd, / who deserts the flock! / May the sword strike his arm / and his right eye! / Let his arm be completely / withered, / his right eye utterly blinded!” (v. 17). Ehud Ben Zvi, in summing up this section, may have a point:

The readers of this literary subunit learn much about the worthless shepherds and their fate. Building upon common ancient Near Eastern and biblical imagery, these shepherds are political leaders, but significantly their identity is never revealed, nor even hinted at, so as to allow and even encourage multiple interpretations. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Zech. 11:1-17)

1 Corinthians 3:10-23

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

"He catches the wise in their craftiness,"

20 and again,

"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,

that they are futile."

21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:10-23, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of March 4, 2007 (the Second Sunday of Lent, Year One), and of February 15, 2008 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Lent, Year Two), and on comments used their from earlier dates as noted there:

Paul has been informed of factionalism in the church at Corinth, a tendency to form separate groups with special loyalty to one or another of their apostles (1 Cor. 1:11-12). After discussing the Corinthian tendency to form cliques or parties attached to one apostle / missionary or the other–“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe . . .” (1 Cor. 3:5), Paul compares the process to a garden or plants. Each contributed, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (v. 6). He explains how the work of these, especially of himself and Apollos, was that of servants sharing in the planting and caring for God’s “harvest” (1 Cor. 3:6-8). But his metaphor changes as the chapter progresses. The church at Corinth, first described as a planting of God, is then described as a building with different contributions. “I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it” (v. 10). One must be sure to lay the proper foundation. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid,” says Paul; “that foundation is Jesus Christ” (v. 11). One must also carefully choose the right building materials, for the choices made, whether “gold, silver, precious, wood, hay, [or] straw” (v. 12), will be tested and revealed in the Day of judgment by fire (v. 13). Paul surely has his own work in mind, as well as that of other apostles, when he says that a well-built structure will survive and “the builder will receive a reward” (v. 14), if the structure “is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire” (v. 15).

Paul and Apollos shared in the building of the church (vv. 9-15), which is the dwelling place of God’s spirit (vv. 16-18). The conflict appears to be between different groups within the Corinthian Christian community, not between the apostles as such. But the passage includes an emphasis upon the accountability of leaders. In the time of God’s judgment, “If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (vv. 14-15). Paul refers again to the contrast between true wisdom (cf. 1:17-25) and “the wisdom of this world” (3:19, cf. the quotations in vv. 19-20), and forbids “boast[ing] about human leaders” (v. 21).

After drawing conclusions about judgment passed on the builders’ work (vv. 13-15), he then compares the church–the local Christian community in Corinth– to the temple. “Do you not know,” he asks, “ that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (v. 16). The Spirit works in the church through his gifts (chap. 12). Paul has a special warning for “anyone [who] destroys God’s temple.” Paul’s ministry at Corinth has formed a Christian community there, for the survival of which he is concerned, but which he recognizes as a product of the work of God. “If anyone destroys God’s temple,” he says, “God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (v. 17). Here, it is the Christian community as a whole that is “God’s temple,” which is not to be destroyed by divisions (1:12-13). Later, in the warning to “shun fornication” (6:12-20), it is the individual’s body that is “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (v. 19), and is not to be “united to a prostitute” (v. 16). Don’t involve your individual bodies in sexual sin because “your [plural] body [singular] is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you” (6:19).

But in chapter 3, Paul continues the contrast of the gospel with “the wisdom of this world,” which “is foolishness with God” (3:19-20, with citation of Job 5:13; Ps. 94:11; cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-25). The issue is not “human leaders” (3:21), for “all belong to you” (v. 21), but only as “you [Corinthians] belong to Christ” (v. 23). Here, says Ben Witherington III, “Paul returns to the language of inversion and paradox. The kingdom’s coming has turned things upside-down: Human wisdom is foolishness, what seems foolish to common sense is Gods wisdom, leaders are servants, the poor are exalted” (Conflict & Community in Corinth, 1994, on vv. 18-23).

Paul forbids “boast[ing] about human leaders,” for “all things are yours,” he says (v. 21), and “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present ore the future–all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God” (vv. 22-23). This accumulation of relationships reminds us of Paul’s list of things in which we are “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37, cf. vv. 37-39). But here in 1 Corinthians, “;Referring to the slogans of 1:12, Paul reverses the possessive relationship, so that all of the ‘servants’ along with life or death, etc. belong to the Corinthians, and then subordinates all to Christ and finally to God” (Richard A. Horsley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on 1 Cor. 3:21-23).

Luke 18:31-43

A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection (Mt 20.17-19; Mk 10.32-34)

31 Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. 33 After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” 34 But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar Near Jericho (Mt 20.29-34; Mk 10.46-52)

35 As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 Then he shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 40 Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, 41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me see again.” 42 Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” 43 Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God. (Luke 18:31-43, NRSV)

On June 11, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year One), comments were repeated with some editing and supplement from November 28, 2006, when comments were combined with revision and supplement from November 23, 2004, (Tuesday of the week of the Sunday closest to November 23, Year Two), and from June 6, 2005 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 8, Year One). They are repeated again here:

These two episodes, separated in Matthew and Mark by the request of the sons of Zebedee for prominence in the kingdom and the related discussion of precedence among the disciples (Mt. 20:20-28; Mk. 10:35-45; cf. Lk. 12:50; 22:24-27; 9:48; John 13:4-5, 12-27) are brought together by Luke, who omits the request of the sons of Zebedee but does present Jesus’ discussion of greatness among the disciples in another context(Lk. 22:24-27; cf. comments on greatness which follow the second passion prediction, Lk. 9:46-48; Mt. 18:1-5; cf. Mk. 9:33-37). For a discussion of these two events from Mark’s perspective, see the comments in the archives for February 9 and 10, 2007 (Friday and Saturday in the week of the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One).

For parallel texts related to today’s reading see the separate file, Third Passion Prediction according to Luke.

Luke presents another of the Passion Predictions by Jesus, the third (cf. Mk. 8:31-33; Mt. 16:21-23; Lk. 9:22; and Mk. 9:30-32; Mt. 17:22-23; Lk. 9:43b-45). “But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said” (Lk. 18:34). This is Luke’s version of Jesus’ Third Passion Prediction (Mk. 10:32-34; Mt. 20:17-19; Lk. 18:31-34). Minor differences include Luke’s omission of the narrative introduction, “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem” (Mk. 10:32; cf. Mt. 20:20), which is repeated in Jesus own words, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem” (Mk. 10:33; Mt. 20:18; Lk. 18:31). In Luke, the journey to Jerusalem has been in progress since 9:51, but it only becomes explicit here in Matthew and Mark. At the end he emphasizes the disciples’ misunderstanding (Lk. 18:34). Luke emphasizes the fact that the coming events

are to take place . . . in ‘accomplishment’ of all the prophetic witness to the “Son of Man (the same verb that is used of Jesus’ time in Jerusalem at 13:32). Nothing is said (as at 22:66-71) of his condemnation by the Jews. At the conclusion of Jesus’ disclosure, Luke alone points to the twelve’s total lack of understanding (cf. 9:45). Luke could hardly have given this a greater emphasis. They still have much to learn. (Eric Franklin, The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 951, on Lk. 18:31-34)

Perhaps the healing of the blind man at Jericho (vv. 35-43) provided some enlightenment, but they would fully understand only after the crucifixion and resurrection. The healing of the blind man (Bartimaeus, Mk. 10:46) is on the approach to Jericho (Lk. 18:35) in Luke, rather than “as he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho” (Mk. 10:46; cf. Mt. 20:29). This, according to Franklin, is “in order to accommodate the story of Zacchaeus that Jesus uses as a climax” (ibid., p. 951, on Lk. 18:35-43). The blind man recognizes Jesus as “Son of David” (Lk. 18:38, 39; cf. Mk. 10:47, 48; Mt. 20:30b, 31b) and boldly cries out “have mercy on me!” (vv. 38, 39). In both of Matthew’s accounts two blind men are healed (Mt. 20:30; 9:27). Matthew’s account could be based on a different event or different information, but since Matthew’s account is only one of two that differs from Mark’s order from Mark 10:1 to 11:14 (cf. the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, Mt. 20:1-16), and after variation in the way the Cursing and Withering of the Fig Tree is presented in relation to the Cleansing of the Temple (Mt. 21:10-17, 18-21; cf. Mk. 11:11-17, 20-26), Matthew continues to follow Mark’s sequence, it is likely the same event based on different information.

It is noteworthy that the verb for healing is “saved” (sevswken, sesōken, the perfect tense of swv/zw, sōzō). “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you” (Lk. 18:42; cf. Mk. 10:52; cf. also different descriptions in Mt. 20:34 and 9:29-30). Franklin notes that the disciples rebuked Jesus, but he rebuked them. “It is these therefore who are themselves rebuked by Jesus’ action in stopping his progress in order to respond to the pleas of the blind man and heal him” (op. cit., p. 951, on vv. 35-43). It is pointed out by David L. Tiede, revised by Christopher R. Matthews, that “Jesus is announced as the Son of David before his royal entrance into Jerusalem (19:29-40)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Lk. 18:42-45). He adds that “The unnamed blind man perceives the Davidic ruler that others in the entourage do not recognize” (on v. 35).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net