For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Presbyterian Readings in the file for May 25, 2010, a week ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

Ecclesiastes 2:16-26

16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me 19 -and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:16-26, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from June 6, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two, and the week of Pentecost Sunday in 2006).

Yesterday’s reading comes to a negative conclusion about the value of life. Qoheleth (the Hebrew word translated as ‘Teacher,’ Eccles. 1:1, NRSV or ‘Preacher’ in various versions, a persona, we might say of “Solomon”), or “Solomon” as much as says, “I have been good for nothing,” that is, there is no gain or benefit from his wisdom. As today’s reading begins, he continues in that vein. “For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?” Eccles. 2:16). In consequence, says “Solomon,” “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity (lb,h,, hevel) and a chasing after wind (H1Ur&&, rû ^ach) and a chasing after wind” (v. 17; cf. 1:2, 14; 2:11, 19, etc.).

As we noted yesterday, Peter Machinist says, “in a similar way to wealth, wisdom may at first confer the advantage of ‘finding/observing’ (ra‘ah)–but in the end it is negated by the fact that wise and fool alike have the same fate (mikreh)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, p. 1608 on Eccles. 2:14-15). He adds that “fate here means death, which wipes out the advantage of the wise over the fool, since both are equally forgotten” (on v. 16, but with reference to ‘fate” in v. 14). This reference to a common end for wise and fool alike (v. 16) is a kind of summary. Machinist finds that “the negative conclusions reached in vv. 1-16 are . . . elaborated [in vv. 17-23] (ibid., on vv. 17-23). So Solomon continues to look at life from the merely human point of view. “I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me” (v. 18), “and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity” (v. 19). “So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun” (v. 20), for, as he explains, “ sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil” (v. 21). The apparent cynicism comes to focus in the question of verse 22, “What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?” (v. 22). This is reinforced: “For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity” (v. 23).

But the answer makes brief reference to God, who gives meaning to what seems utterly meaningless from the merely human point of view. “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God” (v. 24). What, he asks, is a life without God? “for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (v. 25). And he suggests that there is real value in faithfulness to God. “For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God” (v. 26). Machinist comes to a similar conclusion, labeling vv. 24-26 “a solution”:

Koheleth [a variant spelling of Qoheleth,] now offers a way to deal with the negative outcome of his experiments. Returning especially to the question of enjoyment, he reshapes the argument by proposing–and this is the interpretation of various classical Jewish commentators (e.g., Eccl. Rab.. Rashi)–that it is God’s plan that one should at least enjoy the work while one does it, and by implication not worry about what will come afterward. For, Koheleth affirms, that kind of enjoyment is an outgrowth of the wisdom and knowledge that together are God’s gift to one He finds pleasing. The one who displeases God, on the other hand, suffers the fate depicted in the experiments above, namely, that God makes him focus simply on accumulating wealth, only then to see it handed over to another who pleases God. (pp. 1608-1609 on Eccles. 2:24-26)

Galatians 1:18-2:10

18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. 20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me. Galatians 1:18-24, NRSV)

Paul and the Other Apostles (Cp Acts 15.1-21)

2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us--5 we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. 6 And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--those leaders contributed nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do. (Galatians 2:1-10, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from January 27, 2009 (Tuesday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when they were repeated with editing and supplement from June 3, 2008 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from January 23, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when comments were combined with revision and adaptation from January 25, 2005 (Tuesday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), from January 22, 2006 (the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from June 6, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two, the week of Pentecost Sunday in 2006).

Paul seeks to discredit the charges of opponents against him, people who have presented “a different gospel” to the churches of Galatia. He presents an extended narrative (Gal. 1:11-2:14) as background for a statement of his position (2:15-21) and a series of supporting arguments (3:1-5:1). As chapter 1 concludes, the narrative continues; Paul tells the story of the beginnings of his Christian ministry to the Gentiles. After his Damascus Road experience, when God “called me through his grace” (Gal. 1:15), three years later he met with Cephas (Peter) fifteen days, and briefly with James, but he met with none of the other original Apostles. “Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother” (vv. 18-19). This scenario supports his contention that his gospel came through revelation (v. 12), and “is not of human origin” (v. 11). He insists that he received his gospel by a revelation from the Lord, and not through any human source (Gal. 1:15-17). This was to counter the criticism that he preached an inferior, second-hand gospel which for the sake of a broader appeal, he had diluted with less stringent requirements–specifically, by his not requiring circumcision of his Gentile converts, nor in requiring them to observe the Jewish kosher food laws. Paul emphasizes the truth of what he is saying. “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” he says (v. 20). At that point he “went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (v. 21)–for him, essentially home, for Tarsus is in Cilicia. Continuing to show that his gospel is not dependent on the Jerusalem and Judea churches, he says, “I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, ‘The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy’ ” (vv. 22-23). And he adds, “they glorified God because of me” (v. 24). So, while implying that the Jerusalem and Judea Christians appreciated his gospel, Paul demonstrates that his first visit to Jerusalem was not the source of his gospel or his commissioning.

But after missionary work in Syria and Cilicia (Gal. 1:21, cf. v. 23), “after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me” (2:1). According to Sheila Briggs, “it is unclear whether the fourteen years are to be counted from his call or his first Jerusalem visit (1:18)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Gal. 2:1). The former is likely the case, with the “three years” of 1:18 included in the “fourteen years” of 2:1. Assuming that the crucifixion of Jesus was in the year A.D. 30 (the only alternative would be A.D. 33, due to the dating of Passover), and that Paul’s conversion was within two or three years, that is, A.D. 32 or 33, a total of seventeen years for this visit (3 + 14) would put it in A.D. 49 or 50. But Paul was already in Corinth on his second missionary journey during the proconsulship of Gallio. According to Allan J. McNicol,

an inscription discovered at Delphi mentions Gallio as proconsul of Achaia at the time of the twenty-sixth accolade (an honor given to Roman officials) of the Emperor Claudius. It is not clear whether this was A.D. 52/53 or 51/52, but most scholars prefer the earlier date. Thus, according to Acts 18:12-17, the inscription and Paul’s own writings (1 Cor. 3:5-15), it would appear that Paul was in Corinth ca. A.D. 51/52 and that he founded the church there. (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Gallio)

Proconsuls were appointed by the Roman Senate for one year to govern more or less peaceful provinces. It was something of an honor for Gallio, a brother of Seneca the philosopher. Troublesome territories such as Judea were under governors (prefects or procurators) appointed by and responsible to the emperor. So the inclusion of the three years within the total of fourteen years would bring us to A.D. 46 or 47 for the Jerusalem visit of Galatians 2:1, and allow time for the first and second missionary journeys to bring Paul to Corinth.

On that journey to Jerusalem, Paul says, “I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain” (v. 2). On that occasion, Paul says, “even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek” (v. 3). Apparently there was some opposition, even then. As a reason for not submitting, Paul says, “But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us” (v. 4). These, and the ones “supposed to be acknowledged leaders” (v. 6) are apparently not “James and Cephas [i.e., Peter] and John, who were acknowledged pillars” (v. 9). With the latter group, there was agreement (v. 9), but, says Paul, “we did not submit to them [i.e., the ‘false believers’ of v. 4] even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you” (v. 5). Paul claims that “those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders . . . contributed nothing to me” (v. 6). By that he means that his gospel is “not of human origin” (1:11), so even if the supposed “leaders” of 2:6 are the same as the “pillars” of 2:9, who “gave to Barnabas and me [Paul] the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised,” that does not mean that Paul received his gospel second-handed, so to speak, from them.

So Paul and Barnabas received the blessing of “the pillars” for their work among “the uncircumcised” (vv. 7-9). These church leaders “asked only one thing, that we [Paul and Barnabas] remember the poor, which,” says Paul, “was actually what I was eager to do” v. 10). Paul’s point is that none of this amounts to his becoming subordinate to the Jerusalem church and the purveyor of a “second-hand” gospel. As for remembering the poor, we know that his churches in Corinth and Macedonia were exhorted to participate in his collection for the saints of Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. chaps. 8-9), and that the collection was completed (Rom. 15:25-28).

Matthew 13:53-58

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth (Mk 6.1-6; Lk 4.16-30)

54 He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?" 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house." 58 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:53-58, NRSV)

The following comments are based on those of November 4, 2009 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from November 7, 2007 ((Wednesday in the week of the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to November 2, Year One), and earlier comments, as noted there.

This reading from Matthew is presented in parallel with Mark 6:1-6a and Luke 4:16-30 in the separate file, Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth. Recent comments on these passages from the perspective of Mark’s version may be found in the Archive for March 9, 2010 (Tuesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year Two). Recent comments on Luke 4:16-30 may be found in the Archive for May 2, 2010 (the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year Two). Matthew’s and Mark’s versions are very similar. Jesus’ sermon on Isaiah 61 at Nazareth (Lk. 4:14-30), which also leads to rejection, is clearly not a version of the accounts in Matthew and Mark, but may be Luke’s substitute for them. In Luke, the Nazareth sermon begins Jesus’ public ministry, and it’s emphasis on the Spirit, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, / because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Lk. 4:18, citing Isa. 61:1). The sermon’s placement at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry is programmatic, not only for Luke’s Gospel, but also for the Acts of the Apostles, with its account of Pentecost (Acts 2) and the Spirit’s leadership of the church as its mission spreads. The placement of the Nazareth sermon here involves a decision of Luke to move the event at Nazareth forward as compared with the sequence of events in Mark.

Today’s reading begins with Matthew’s closing formula for his collection of Jesus’ parables: “When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place” (Mt. 13:53). This becomes the transition to a series of “events of decisive acceptance or rejection of Jesus” (Mt. 13:53-17:27, so called by E. E. Tilden and B. M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^rd ed. on Mt. 13:53-17:27), beginning with the account of Jesus’ rejection at home (13:53-58; cf. Mk. 6:1-6a; Lk. 4:16-30). Jesus “came to his hometown,” says Matthew, “and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power?’ ” (Mt.13:54). Mark notes that as Jesus “came to his hometown . . . his disciples followed him” (Mk. 6:1), and that the teaching was “on the sabbath . . . in the synagogue (v. 2a). In both Gospels the people of Nazareth ask about Jesus family. In Matthew, they say, “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” (Mt. 13:55-56). Matthew’s phrase, “the carpenter’s son,” replaces Mark’s “the carpenter, the son of [Mary]” (Mk. 6:3a), but names of the same brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, and reference to unnamed sisters, appear in both Gospels (Mt. 13:55b, 56a; cf. Mk. 6:3, with Judas before Simon). The rejection is explained by the proverb, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown [‘own country,’ Mt. 13:57], and among their own kin [omitted by Mt.], and in their own house” (Mk. 6:4; cf. Mt. 13:57; Lk. 4:24; Jn. 4:44). Mark thus includes Jesus’ “own kin” among those who fail to honor him. Mark says that Jesus “could do no deed of power there, except; that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them” (Mk. 6:5); cf. “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief” (Mt. 13:58). Whereas a typical miracle story in the Gospels ends by noting the crowd’s amazed reaction (cf. Mk. 2:12), this one ends with reference to limitations “because of their unbelief” (Mt. 13:58).

In Mark, the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth (Mk. 6:1-6), coming as it does between a series of four of Jesus’ miracles (Mark 4:35-5:43), and his sending out the Twelve, who “cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them” (Mk. 6:13), strikes us as sad indeed. We may sometimes feel that the people who know us well take us for granted, or do not give us the honor and respect we deserve. That certainly applies to Jesus in this situation. “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house” (Mk. 6:4). But in Mark’s narrative, the rejection at Nazareth is a kind of foil that makes the surrounding miracles stand out in bold relief. Jesus commends the faith (pivstiV, pistis) of the woman with the hemorrhages (Mk. 5:34), but is “amazed at their unbelief (ajpistiva, apistia)” in Nazareth (6:6). “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (pivstiV, pistis), who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God” (Heb. 12:1-2). Through Jesus, we have access to the Creator of heaven and earth for whom Isaiah speaks.

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Presbyterian Readings in the file for May 25, 2010, a week ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net