Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (Episcopal tradition)

A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity

8:1 This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3 He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10 You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:1-10, NRSV)

On May 14, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year One), comments were repeated from February 5, 2007 (the first Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments from February 13, 2005 (the First Sunday of Lent, Year One), which were repeated on January 7, 2006 (using references for the Epiphany and following), were repeated again with some revision and supplement; the revised and supplemented comments are repeated again here:

Moses reminds the people that they “must diligently observe” the LORD’s commandment, “this entire commandment that I command you today” (Deut. 8:1a), as a condition of prosperity. They are to observe the commandment “so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors” (v. 1b). Moses reminds the people of the LORD’s leading, discipline and testing. “Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments” (v. 2). The LORD, says Moses, “humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (v. 3). God’s daily care for the Israelites included “feeding you with manna” (v. 3; cf . Ex., ch. 16; Num. 11:7, 8). This verse, we remember, was quoted by Jesus in response to the devil’s temptation to “command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Mt. 4:3-4; Lk. 4:3-4). Moses reminds the people of the LORD’s provision of clothing and protection of their feet (v. 5). Rabbi J. H. Hertz, who entitles this chapter, “Fatherly Discipline of God–The Lessons of the Wilderness,” says:

The long wandering in the Wilderness had been designed to teach Israel humility and a self-distrusting reliance on Him. In those years, when the Israelites were wholly dependent upon God, they had lacked nothing that was essential for their life. Now they were about to take possession of a fertile land; let them take heed not to forget the Divine goodness and guidance. (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, p. 781, on Deut., chap. 8)

On verse 5, the Rabbi adds:

Even the hunger and hardship during the wanderings in the desert were part of God’s fatherly discipline of His people. Suffering is thus transfigured into what the Rabbis called ‘chastisements of love (hbhx lw Nyrvsy). ‘God delivereth the afflicted by His affliction’ (Job xxxvi, 15). Especially to the Rabbis is the pathway of suffering the necessary road to the beatitudes of the higher life. ‘Beloved is suffering; for only through suffering were the good gifts of the Torah, the Holy Land, and Eternal Life given unto Israel. Those who . . . rejoice in their sufferings, they are the lovers of God’ (Talmud). (ibid., p. 782, on Deut. 8:5).

Bernard W. Anderson offers a similar interpretation. “Suffering is here interpreted as discipline, analogous to a parent’s correction of a child . . . God’s purpose is to humble the people’s pride and to test the quality of their faith” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on v. 5). So the reminder comes again: “Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.” (v.6). Verses seven to ten describe the abundant resources of the land they are about to enter. Moses first emphasizes the potential fertility of the land: “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills” (v. 7). The land will provide an abundance of food, for it is “a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (v. 8). They need not fear famine or hunger, because it is “a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing” (v. 9a), including raw materials for industry and commerce, because it is “a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper” (v. 9b). But the emphasis remains on the needs of everyday life. “You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you” (v. 10).

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions)

23 Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24, NRSV)

On February 25, 2007 (The First Sunday of Lent, Year One), comments were repeated from February 13, 2005 ((the First Sunday of Lent, Year One); the comments are repeated here with editing and supplement related to the larger context:

Much of Jeremiah, chapter 9 focuses upon Israel’s sinfulness and the LORD’s judgment. Mark E. Biddle hears a series of voices, continuing from Jeremiah 8:14 that leads up to today’s reading. “Why do we sit still? / Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities / and perish there; / for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish, / and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD” (Jer. 8:14). According to Biddle, “Jeremiah speaks first in the persona of the people of Judah, panic-stricken before the invader” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Jer. 8:14-17). According to Biddle, a new voice is heard beginning in verse 18. “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, / my heart is sick. / Hark, the cry of my poor people / from far and wide in the land: / ‘Is the LORD not in Zion? / Is her King not in her?’ . . . ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, / and we are not saved’ ” (vv. 18, 19a, b, c, d, 20). Biddle calls this portion, “Jerusalem’s lament over Judah,” and adds that “the identification of speakers in this unit is crucial to its interpretation, but exceedingly difficult. The individual who begins speaking may well be Lady Jerusalem, the only other individual lamenter in the book of Jeremiah to this point (compare 4:19-22 and 10::19-21)” (op. cit. on 8:18-9:1). Robert R. Wilson presents a somewhat different analysis, with essentially the same effect. “The people,” he says, “are resigned to divine destruction and the approach of the ‘foe’ ” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jer. 8:14-17). Of the following section, Wilson says, “The prophet experiences divine suffering over the imminent destruction of the people” (ibid., on 8:18-9:3). Both interpreters thus recognize the prophet behind the voices, the “personae,” who speak of the misery of God’s people.

Biddle hears the LORD’s response in 9:2-9. “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: / I will now refine and test them, / for what else can I do with my sinful people?” (9:7). The LORD speaks of their deceit and deception (v. 8) and asks, “Shall I not punish them for these things? Says the LORD; / and shall I n0ot bring retribution / on a nation such as this?” (v. 9). Much of the balance of the chapter consists in what Biddle calls “Lamentation over Zion” (op. cit., on vv. 10-22), with a variety of woes, leading up to today’s brief reading. Women mourners lament, “Death (tv@m!, māwet) has come up into our windows, / it has entered our palaces, / to cut off the children from the streets / and the young men from the squares” (v. 21 NRSV = v. 20 Heb.). Behind the reference to “death” here, Biddle hears a reference to “Mot, the god of death in Canaanite mythology” (op. cit., on v. 21). The short, construct form of the Hebrew word for “death” (tv@m!, māwet) is tOm (môt). “Speak! Thus says the LORD: / ‘Human corpses shall fall / like dung upon the open field, / like sheaves behind the reaper, / and no one shall gather them” (v. 22).

Against this dismal background we come upon a ray of light in the brief reading for today from Jeremiah. “Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD” (vv. 23-24). By this reading, set in a context of judgment upon Israel for forsaking the LORD, we are reminded that knowledge of the LORD and his ways is the true wisdom, which far surpasses what we human beings tend to value, human wisdom, might and wealth. It might well have served as a text for the written “sermon” which Paul delivers in the next reading. As the Rabbi noted above, in the context of Deuteronomy, the LORD is a god of justice and flouting his laws and righteousness will bring down punishment on the other nations, but also on Israel. Note the continuation in Jeremiah, that focuses on genuine righteousness, not a shallow circumcision that does not affect one’s inner being, one’s heart. “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin: Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are circumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart” (vv. 25-26). Marvin A. Sweeny comments: “Israel, although physically circumcised, is ‘uncircumcised of heart’–they are not prepared to accept God’s teachings (cf. Ezek. 44:7, 9). As in many prophetic texts, the emphasis is that physical ritual actions alone do not assure divine blessing” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jer. 9:24 = Heb. = v. 25 NRSV).

1 Corinthians 1:17 (18)-31 (The Episcopal tradition includes verse 17.)

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God (Cp Isa 29.14)

18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:17 (18)-31, NRSV)

On February 11 and 12, 2008, comments on 1 Corinthians 1:1-19 and verses 20-31 were based on earlier comments as noted there. Relevant portions of the revised comments are repeated here with some editing and supplement:

In four of the five Sundays beginning today, the Epistle readings are selected from 1 Corinthians. After the salutation (1 Cor. 1:3) and thanksgiving (vv. 4-9), Paul presents what Richard A. Horsley calls his “first major argument, for unity” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on 1 Cor. 1:10-4:21). Paul begins with an appeal: “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Cor. 1:10). This begins a paragraph that addresses issues “reported to me [i.e., to Paul] by Chloe’s people” (v. 11a), including “quarrels” (v. 11b), separation into parties or cliques attached to different apostles, some to Paul, some to Apollos, perhaps some to Cephas (i.e., Peter), some to “Christ” (v. 12). The issue of unity here probably represents division into two parties, the ones following Paul and the ones following Apollos, with the references to Cephas [Peter] and Christ (v. 12) as hypothetical examples (cf. Horsley, ibid., on vv. 10-17). Others would see reference to four distinct parties here, but the main emphasis is on overcoming these divisions, the theme of most of chapters 1 to 4. “Has Christ been divided?” asks Paul. “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (v. 13). Paul thanks God that he “baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius” (v. 14) (and later, v. 16a, “the household of Stephanas”), “so that no one can say that you were baptized in my [Paul’s] name” (v. 15). Paul admits that he may have baptized others (v. 16b), but indicates that baptism (or at least baptism by Paul himself) is of lesser importance. His main business is the proclaiming of Christ.

As today’s reading begins, Paul says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power” (v. 17). According to Horsley, this passage is “not an attack on baptism itself, but on its connection with the Corinthians’ attachment to particular leaders such as Apollos or himself” (ibid., on vv. 14-17). The repudiation of “eloquent wisdom” (v. 17) has been understood as a reference to ancient rhetorical skills–central in the education of the Greco-Roman world–and related speech-making competitions with honors for winners, but Ben Witherington, III, documents Paul’s rhetorical skill as expressed throughout the Corinthian correspondence (Conflict & Community in Corinth; A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians, on 1 Cor. 1:17 and throughout the commentary).

Paul’s message is “about the cross [of Christ] . . . the power of God” (v. 18). He supports this approach with a quotation from Isaiah: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, / and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (v. 19, citing Isa. 29:14 LXX). The Hebrew text, as represented by the NRSV, says “The wisdom of their wise shall perish, / and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden (rT!T1s4T9, tistattār)” (Isa. 29:14). The verb, “shall be hidden” is in the hitpael conjugation, and the form is translated “keep (oneself) hidden” (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. rts, s-t-r). In light of Witherington’s comment (above) one is tempted to suggest that Paul wishes not to emphasize his own considerable rhetorical skill–not to say “hide it”; but he follows the Septuagint here, using “thwart” (ajqethvsdw, athetēsō, 1 Cor. 1:19) for “hide” (kruvyw, krypsō, Isa. 29:14 LXX). Paul discounts the so-called wisdom of his competitors and/or opponents in order to emphasize his gospel of the cross of Christ.

With rhetorical questions, Paul asserts the limited value of merely human wisdom. “Where is the wise?” he asks. “Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (v. 20). As the contrast between the best of human wisdom and the wisdom of God is described, identifies with God’s foolishness, and the foolishness of preaching Christ crucified. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe” (v. 21). He recognizes that this is not the message that many want to here. “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (vv. 22-23), he says, and insists on the power of this gospel, adding “but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (v. 24). And he concludes, “For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength” (v. 25).

Paul illustrates his point by reference to his Christian converts in Corinth. “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (v. 26). With a rather oblique compliment, Paul says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (vv. 27-29). According to Horsley, “precisely by calling them as poor, weak, ‘nothings’ in the world, God is manifesting his purpose of overturning the established order, the dominance of the powerful, wise, and nobly born,” and he adds that this theme “is deeply rooted in biblical tradition, e.g. Ex. 15:1-17, 21; Judg. 5; 1 Sam. 2:1-10” (op. cit., on 1 Cor. 1:27-28).

Because Corinth lay, as it were, at the crossroads of ancient commerce–something like the situation of Houston and of (pre-Katrina) New Orleans–there was something of a business and commercial class from which some were included in Paul’s Corinthian community. These would have included many “freedmen,” who were able to survive and flourish in such a business climate. Though Corinth was a Roman colony–destroyed, desolate for a century, and rebuilt as a Roman city a few decades before Paul’s arrival, there were few if any of the patrician and equestrian classes among Paul’s converts. But according to Paul, that is of little consequence for, as he tells them, God has chosen the “low and despised” (1 Cor. 3:28). “He [God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (v. 30). If that is so, then there is no place for boasting in merely human wisdom and rhetorical skills, but “in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’ ” (v. 31, citing Jer. 9:24; cf. 2 Cor. 10:17).

We trace the beginnings of philosophy (philosophia, “love of wisdom”) to the ancient Greeks. There is also an important “Wisdom” (hm!k4H!, chokmah) tradition in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes), the Apocrypha (Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon) and elsewhere among the ancient Jews. We learn from his writings, in 1 Corinthians and elsewhere, that Paul was skilled in using and interpreting the Jewish wisdom tradition and skilled in the use of Greco-Roman rhetoric, but here he insists on “the surpassing value” of the “foolishness” of proclaiming “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:22; cf. Phil. 3:8).

Mark 2:18-22

The Question about Fasting (Mt 9.14-17; Lk 5.33-39)

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22, NRSV)

On January 16, 2009 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), comments on Mark 2:13-22 were repeated from February 15, 2008 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Lent, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 18, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), when they were repeated from January 12, 2007 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when comments were combined with revision and adaptation from January 14, 2005 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), from July 13, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), and from March 10, 2006 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Lent, Year Two). Relevant comments (on vv. 18-22) are repeated here with some editing and supplemental notes. For parallel passages, see the separate file, The Question about Fasting.

Today’s reading from Mark follows the account of Jesus “at dinner in Levi’s house” (Mk. 2:13, cf. vv. 13-17; Lk. 5:27-32; and Mt. 9:9-13, apparently with “Matthew”). For recent comments on this occasion, see the Archive for January 16, 2009 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One):Dinner at Levi’s house, including “many tax collectors and sinners” (Mk. 2:15), provides another occasion for conflict with “the scribes of the Pharisees” (v. 16, an unusual phrase; cf. v. 6). The people observe the fasting of John’s disciples and the Pharisees, and ask Jesus why his disciples do not fast (v. 18). (Another criticism of the dinner at Levi’s house?) These events provide the setting for a series of remarkable sayings of Jesus:

            1.         “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (v. 17).

            2.         “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast (v. 19).

            3.         The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (v. 20).

There is some irony in the first saying. The critics see Jesus’ table fellowship with “tax collectors and sinners” as contrary to their “righteousness,” but it is the “sinners” whom Jesus has come to call that are “righteous” and enter the kingdom. A common thread in these sayings is joy in the presence of the bridegroom, including joy in the table fellowship of Jesus with the tax collectors and sinners.

A similar question introduces the sayings in Matthew, but the question is from “the disciples of John” (Mt. 9:14) rather than Mark’s indefinite “people” (NRSV, cf. ‘some people’ TNIV, NEB), which translates only the plural verb endings of “came” ( e[rcontai, erchontai) and “said” (levgousin, legousin). The pronominal “they” of these verb endings could refer to “John’s disciples” and/or “the Pharisees” as apparently understood by the translators of the Authorized (King James) Version: “And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?” (Mk. 2:18 AV/KJV). Even so the Authorized version refers to “the disciples of John and of the Pharisees” in a third-person sense. This version also translates the present tense Greek verbs as presents, “come and say,” which the NRSV correctly understands as historic presents and so translates in the English past tense “came and said.” In Matthew’s parallel, a similar Greek historic present is translated in the English past tense in both the Authorized version, “Then came (prosevrcontai, proserchontai) to him the disciples of John, saying” (Mt. 9:14 AV/KJV), and the NRSV, “Then the disciples of John came to him saying.” Matthew’s separation of the disciples of John from the Pharisees is noteworthy. Later manuscripts of Mark do the same, substituting “disciples of the Pharisees” (as in the AV/KJV) for “the Pharisees.”

In Luke, the issue appears to be raised at the dinner in Levi’s house, though the question raised by “the Pharisees and their scribes” (Lk. 5:30) is not clearly from dinner guests. In any case, Luke does not repeat the question, but implies it by their statement “Then they (oiJ dev, hoi de) said (ei\pan, eipan, aorist = past tense) to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink’ ” (Lk. 5:33). But the challenge is essentially the same whether presented as a question (Mk., Mt.) or a statement (Lk.). Jesus responds: “The wedding guests cannot fast (Mt. ‘mourn’) while (Mt. ‘as long as’) the bridegroom is with them, can they?” (Mk. 2:19a; Mt. 9:15a). Luke’s second person version is essentially the same: “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?” Only Mark includes the explanatory assertion, “As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast” (Mk. 2:19b), which Matthew and Luke apparently regarded as redundant. The prediction which follows is similar in the three versions: “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (Mk. 2:20; Mt. 9:15b omits ‘on that day,’ which Lk. 5:35 changes to ‘in those days’). Another difference, not reflected in the NRSV text, is the placement of kaiv (kai, “and” or “also, even”), before “then” (tovte, tote) (Mk., Mt.). Luke has kaiv (kai) before o{tan (hotan, “when, whenever”), emphasizing the time that will come to fast (Lk. 5:35), which several manuscripts move to its position in Mark. Today’s New International Version reflects this difference. “But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; [‘and’ NRSV] in those days they will fast” (Lk. 5:35 TNEV). Each Gospel anticipates the bridegroom’s, that is, Jesus’, departure.

According to Vincent Taylor, “The only fast enjoined by the Law was that of the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. 20; cf [the Fast] in Ac. xxvii. 9), but additional fasts were observed by the Pharisees, twice in the week, on Mondays and Thursdays (cf. Lk. xviii. 12, [“I fast twice a week”]). Traditional fasts, commemorative events . . . were also observed” (The Gospel according to St. Mark, 1959, p. 209, on Mk. 2:18). The Didache, an early Christian work included with the Apostolic Fathers, dated in the early second century, directs Christians to fast on Wednesday and Friday, and so differentiate their practice from that of the Pharisees. But Jesus does not change the time for fasting; rather, he points out that it’s a time to celebrate, “while the bridegroom is with them,” that is, with the “wedding guests” (Mk. 2:19). It is a time to proclaim “the good news of God . . . saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near’” (1:14-15).

The next saying begins identically in the versions of Mark and Matthew. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak” (Mk. 2:21a; Mt. 9:16a), but explanations differ some. “Otherwise,” says Mark,” the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made” (Mk. 2:21b). Matthew is brief, “for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made” (Mt. 9:16b). But both versions imply that the shrinking of the “unshrunk cloth” will tear the older cloth on which it has been sewn. Luke’s version envisions the tearing of the new cloth, apparently to get the patch, but sees the problem in a mismatch of the material. “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn [to get the patch], and the piece from the new will not match the old” (Lk. 5:36 NRSV). Today’s New International Version makes the worker(s) the subject of the verb “tear” (scivsaV, scivsei, schisas, schizei). The words to; kainovn (to kainon), “the new,” neuter gender in Greek, may be understood as the subject (TNIV) or the direct object (NRSV) of the verb “tear” (second instance). But the transitive sense, as in TNIV is more likely. “If they do, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old” (cf. Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. scivzw, schizō).

Together with the following saying about not putting new wine in old wineskins (Mk. 2:22; Mt. 9:17; Lk. 5:37-38), which displays minor differences in wording among the three versions, but clearly the same meaning, these sayings point to the radical newness of the kingdom of God. There must be a transformation of the understanding of God’s will and his saving activity. It’s a time for the “new wine” of the kingdom, which will burst the bonds of the older understanding of God’s salvation. As we look back, we note that, earlier, Jesus had called fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John (Mk. 1:15-21). Then he called a tax collector–one of those expected to collect taxes any way they could and meet their quota as set by the client king–Herod Antipas–of the Romans. Jesus became known, and was reviled, for “eating with sinners and tax collectors” (2:16). The Pharisees considered their mission to show the common people how to keep the law, which was difficult for many of them. The people of the Qumran community had withdrawn from the world in order to be holy behind walls, so to speak. Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (v. 17). His eating with Levi and others was a part of his coming kingdom, a time not for fasting (vv. 18-20), but of “new wine” (vv. 21-22).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net