Daily Scripture Readings

Friday (September 3, 2010)*

Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1979; cf. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Abingdon Press, 1992

Daily Lectionary, Book of Common Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1993

Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing) ‡

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

http://www.pcusa.org/lectionary

YOU MAY NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THESE URLs IN YOUR BROWSER

‡ Daily Lectionary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA, 2006. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book of 2006, the Daily Lectionary (pp. 1121-1153) is revised to correlate with the Sunday Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary) on the three year cycle: Year A, Year B (now current), Year C. “The readings are chosen so that the days leading up to Sunday (Thursday through Saturday) prepare for the Sunday readings. The days flowing out from Sunday (Monday through Wednesday) reflect upon the Sunday readings” (p. 1121).

Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.

Friday

AM Psalm 31

PM Psalm 35

Job 19:1-7, 14-27

Acts 13:13-25

John 9:18-41

[Prudence Crandall]:

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Prudence_Crandall.htm

Psalm 86:11-17

Habakkuk 3:16-19; Acts 24:10-21; Luke 9:62–10:2

Eucharistic Readings:

1 Cor. 4:1-5; Psalm 37:1-12;

Luke 5:33-39

Friday

Morning: Psalms 84; 148

Job 19:1-7, 14-27

Acts 13:13-25

John 9:18-41

Evening: Psalms 25; 40

Friday

Morning Pss.: 88, 148

Job 2:1-13

Acts 9:1-9

John 6:27-40

Evening Pss.: 6, 20

 

Year C Daily Readings

Psalm 1

Deuteronomy 7:12-26

Colossians 4:;7-17

*Friday in the week of the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two

 

For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for August 20, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

 

Job 19:1-7, 14-27

 

Job Replies: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

 

     19:1 Then Job answered:

2 “How long will you torment me,

and break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;

are you not ashamed to wrong me?

4 And even if it is true that I have erred,

my error remains with me.

5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,

and make my humiliation an argument against me,

6 know then that God has put me in the wrong,

and closed his net around me.

7 Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered;

I call aloud, but there is no justice. (Job 19:1-7, NRSV)

 

14 My relatives and my close friends have failed me;

15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;

my serving girls count me as a stranger;

I have become an alien in their eyes.

16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;

I must myself plead with him.

17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;

I am loathsome to my own family.

18 Even young children despise me;

when I rise, they talk against me.

19 All my intimate friends abhor me,

and those whom I loved have turned against me.

20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,

and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,

for the hand of God has touched me!

22 Why do you, like God, pursue me,

never satisfied with my flesh?

23 “O that my words were written down!

O that they were inscribed in a book!

24 O that with an iron pen and with lead

they were engraved on a rock forever!

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,

then in my flesh I shall see God,

27 whom I shall see on my side,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me! (Job 19:14-27, NRSV)

 

The following comments are based on those on Job 19:1-7, 14-27 of April 11, 2009 (Holy Saturday of Year One), and on earlier comments of September 5, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when comments on Job 19:1-7, 14-27, were based on those of March 26, 2005 (Holy Saturday, Year One), those of September 8, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), and those of April 7, 2007 (Holy Saturday, Year One), with some repetition, editing and supplement.

 

            A Dark Day before Resurrection

 

This passage is from Job’s response (ch. 19) to Bildad’s second speech (ch. 18). Bildad has repeated the friends’ theme implying that Job suffers because of his sin. “You who tear yourself in your anger—shall the earth be forsaken because of you, / or the rock be removed out of its place?” (Job 18:4). James L. Crenshaw says, “Bildad’s system of reward and retribution will make no exception for Job, who must be guilty” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Job 18:4). Job responds with a plea. “How long will you torment me, / and break me in pieces with words? / These tem times you have cast reproach upon me; / are you not ashamed to wrong me?” (Job 19:2-3). The “ten times” are “not to be taken literally,” says Leong Seow; rather, “The expression simply means numerous times (cf. Gen. 31:7; Num. 14:22) (The New Oxford Annotated Bible [NOAB], 3rd. edition, augmented 2007, on Job 19:3). He challenges the friends: “And even if it is true that I have erred, / my error remains with me” (Job 19:4). It’s almost as if he were to say, What is that to you? They might have responded, We are exercising the principle of “tough love”! But what Job really says is, “If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, / and make my humiliation an argument against me, / know then that God has put me in the wrong, / and closed his net around me” (vv. 5-6). And so his complaint against God continues. His cry, “Violence!” and his call for justice are not heard. “Even when I cry out ‘Violence!’ ” he says, “I am not answered; / I call aloud, but there is no justice” (v. 7).

 

In the interval in the lectionary reference (verses 8 to 13), Job lists numerous ways in which he feels wronged by God. His way is blocked and darkened (v. 8); he has been stripped of glory and his “crown” (v. 9); he is broken down, with hope uprooted (v. 10), facing the wrath of his adversary, God (v. 11). It is as though Job is a city besieged by an army (v. 12), and he is estranged from family–such as he still has–and acquaintances (v. 13). And the description of Job’s alienation from “friends and family” continues. Such a “motif,” says Seow, “occurs often in laments (see Ps. 31:11-13; 38:11; 55:12-14)” (op. cit., on vv. 13-20). Among those from whom he is alienated, Job includes “my relatives and close friends. “My relatives and my close friends have failed me; / the guests in my house have forgotten me; / my serving girls count me as a stranger; / I have become an alien in their eyes” (vv. 14-15). “I call to my servant,” says Job, “but he does not answer; / I must myself plead with him” (v. 16). According to Crenshaw, “This negative view of slaves does not recur in 31:13-15” (op. cit., on v. 16). In the latter passage Job denies having mistreated his slaves. “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, / when the brought a complaint against me; / what then shall I do when god rises up?” (31:13-14a). In this passage, “If I have” essentially means “I have never,” a strong oath formula denial which Job uses repeatedly in chapter 31. In the present context, Job continues: “My breath is repulsive to my wife; / I am loathsome to my own family (yn9&F;b9 yneb;l9, livnê bitnî, lit. ‘to the sons of my belly [womb?]’ = physical sons’)” (19:17). “This,” says Mayer Gruber, “is the second of three references to Job’s wife (see 2:10; 31:10)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Job 19:17). On “I am loathsome to my children” (NJPS 1985, 1999, for NRSV, “I am loathsome to my own family”), Gruber adds

 

This  verse would seem to demonstrate the independence of the poetic symposium from the prose framework, according to which by the time Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to visit Job, the latter’s seven sons and three daughters had all perished. Inconsistencies in details such as these between prose narrative frameworks and poems set within such narrative frameworks are found elsewhere (Exod. Chs 14-15; Judg. Chs  4-5; Jonah). (ibid., on v. 17b)

 

It’s possible of course that some poetic “generalizing” will account for what Gruber calls inconsistencies. According to Crenshaw, “my own family, lit. children of my womb,’ may reflect the sexist views of the ancient Near East—a wife as a husband’s property—or it may be an oblique reference to a clan. Job appears to have forgotten that his children are dead, unless his speech merely accords with conventional laments familiar from Mesopotamia, e.g.., ‘I will Praise the Lord of Wisdom’ and ‘The Babylonian Theodicy’ ” (op. cit., on v. 17).

 

The next reference is not necessarily to his own children. “Even young children despise me; / when I rise, they talk against me” (Job 19:18). “All my intimate friends abhor me,” adds Job, “and those whom I loved have turned against me” (v. 19). The fact that Job’s friends abhor him is likely due to his repulsive physical condition. “My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,” he says, “and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth” (v. 20). He wants pity, not abhorrence. “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, / for the hand of God has touched me!” (v. 21). He complains of abuse when pity is called for. “Why do you, like God, pursue me, / never satisfied with my flesh?” (v. 22).  Job still wants his case–his side of the story–to be heard. “O that my words were written down! / O that they were inscribed in a book! / O that with an iron pen and with lead / they were engraved on a rock forever!” (vv. 23-24). According to Gruber, “Job is so  certain of his innoce3nce that he wants his case to be inscribed on a monumental stele, rather than the more temporary parchment or papyrus used in biblical antiquity” (op. cit., on vv. 23-24).

 

At this point, we come today to a shining star in the otherwise dark sky of Job’s despair. Or at least, it would seem so, as we listen to a modern rendition of George Frederick Handel’s air for soprano, “I Know that My Redeemer Liveth,” based on Job 19:25.

 

Textual Difficulties (but “I shall see God”)

 

Job comes to a profound expression of his confident expectation of vindication:

 

For I know that my Redeemer (yl9xEGo, gÇ’elî) lives (yHA, ch~y),

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth (rpAfA, ‘~f~r, ‘dust’ “Or ‘on my grave’” TNIV text note d);

and after my skin has been thus destroyed,

then in my flesh (yr9WAB;m9, mibbeÑ~rî, lit. ‘from my flesh’ [‘apart from my flesh’? cf. TNIV text note f]) I shall see God (h01Olx<, ’ elôah),

whom I shall see on my side,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27, NRSV)

 

The traditional understanding of “Redeemer” (lxeGo, gÇ’ ‘l) as a reference to Christ, combined with the strong affirmation, “I shall see God” (Job 19:26 NRSV, KJV, RSV, NAS, NIV [“I will see God], cf. the New Living Trans.), offers encouragement as we remember our Lord’s resurrection. Scholars have found these verses difficult to translate, as one can see in the marginal notes or footnotes in some versions, but apart from the choice of preposition in verse 26b–“in my flesh” KJV, NRSV, NIV; “from [literal for Heb. -m9, mi-] NAS, RSV]; “without” NRSV note e, M. Pope in the Anchor Bible; “apart from” TNIV note f–many of the translations include the assurance that, “after my skin has been thus destroyed,” then . . . I shall see God” v. 26). The translation of verse 26 in the New English Bible varies from the above, with a bit of paraphrasing based on the perceived uncertainty of the text:

 

and I shall discern my witness standing at my side [prob. Rdg.; Heb. unintelligible]

and see my defending counsel, even God, himself. (Job 19:26 NEB)

 

But even this translation retains the meaning that Job will “discern my witness . . . , even God himself.”

 

Marvin H. Pope translates these verses as follows:

 

I know that my vindicator (yl9xEGo, gÇ’ alî) lives,

A guarantor upon the dust will stand;

Even after my skin is flayed,

Without my flesh I shall see God.

I will see him on my side,

My own eyes will see him unestranged.

My heart faints within me. (Job 19:25-27 as translated in Job, Anchor Bible, vol. 15, 3rd. ed., 1973, p. 129).

 

The JPS TANAKH translation of 1985, 1999 (NJPS) translates as follows:

 

But I know that my Vindicator lives;

–In the end He will testify on earth–

This, after my skin will have been peeled off.

But I would behold God while still in my flesh.

I myself, not another, would behold Him;

Would see with my own eyes:

My heart pines within me. (Job 19:25-27 NJPS)

 

The Redeemer (NRSV, TNIV) or Vindicator (Pope, NJPS), Hebrew (lxeGo, gÇ’‘l), represents a participle of the verb “redeem” (lxagA, g~’al), which denotes a “deliverer” who delivers a “childless widow” from childlessness by marriage (Ruth 2:26; 4:4, 6), or who “receives the restitution-payment at the relief of a wrong” (Num. 5:8; William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 1971, 10th corrected impression, 1988, s.v. lxagA, g~’al). Other meanings include buying “freedom of [a] person (who has fallen into slavery for debt)” and avenging bloodshed “by killing the murderer of one’s relative,” and thus clearing “away the crime” (ibid.). The term is used of God as redeemer in Exodus 6:6: “I will redeem you [Israel] (MK,t4x, yT9l4gav4, weg~ltî ’ethkem) with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment” (Exod. 6:6; cf. Prov. 23:11). According to Pope,

 

It is certain that here Job does not have in mind a human agent who will act as his vindicator. The application of the term gô’‘l to God in this context is also questionable since elsewhere in Job’s complaint it is God himself who is Job’s adversary rather than defender. The difficulty may be alleviated by understanding the term gô’‘l here to refer to the agent elsewhere termed an umpire (ix 33) and a witness (xvi 19) who is to serve the same function as the personal god of Sumerian theology, i.e., act as his advocate and defender in the assembly of the gods; cf. xxxiii 23). (op. cit., pp. 134-135 on Job 19:25a)

 

Gruber has a similar interpretation: “Job is not speaking about God but rather about a future kinsman who will vindicate him, who will take revenge on God for what God has done to Job” (op. cit., p. 1529 on Job 19:25). But Robert L. Alden has a different view, according to which Job here has an intimation, at least, of Christ as the “redeemer”:

 

In the Pentateuch and historical books the word [gô’‘l] was basically commercial or legal, but in the psalms and prophets it became a theological term (e.g. Ps. 19:14 [15]; Isa. 43:1; Jer. 50:34; Mic. 4:10). The question is whether Job was using it in the older sense, hoping for some relative to stand up for him, or whether in the later sense that Yahweh was Israel’s Redeemer. . . . Though Job would die and his stone testimony would stand in silence, he anticipated a Redeemer who ‘lives’ and acts on behalf of those in need who rely on him.

Along with the prophets, Job spoke words that we can understand best from the perspective of the New Testament. Job’s understanding of God’s eternal plan for the redemption of his people through the death of Christ was surely limited, but that does not diminish the veracity of the statement. For Job and for every believer before and after him there is a divine Redeemer. (Job, The New American Commentary, 1993, p. 207 on Job. 19:25)

 

A “beatifying vision”

 

John Wesley understood verse 26 as follows:

 

Though - Though my skin is now in a great measure consumed, and the rest of it, together with this body, shall be devoured by the worms, which may seem to make my case desperate. Flesh - Or with bodily eyes; my flesh or body being raised from the grave, and re - united to my soul. God - The same whom he called his Redeemer, ver.25, who having taken flesh, and appearing in his flesh or body with and for Job upon the earth, might well be seen with his bodily eyes. Nor is this understood of a simple seeing of him; but of that glorious and beatifying vision of God, which is promised to all God's people. (“Notes on the Book of Job,” Wesley Center Online, at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/job.htm - Chapter+XIX, accessed again Sept. 2, 2010; you may need to copy and paste the URL in your browser.)

 

The Redeemer

 

Wesley’s notes on verse 25 are as follows:

 

For - This is the reason of his confidence in the goodness of his cause, and his willingness to have the matter depending between him and his friends, published and submitted to any trial, because he had a living and powerful Redeemer to plead his cause, and to give sentence for him. My Redeemer - In whom I have a particular interest. The word Goel, here used; properly agrees to Jesus Christ: for this word is primarily used of the next kinsman, whose office it was to redeem by a price paid, the sold or mortgaged estate of his deceased kinsman; to revenge his death, and to maintain his name and honour, by raising up seed to him. All which more fitly agrees to Christ, who is our nearest kinsman and brother, as having taken our nature upon him; who hath redeemed that everlasting inheritance which our first parents had utterly lost, by the price of his own blood; and hath revenged the death of mankind upon the great contriver of it, the devil, by destroying him and his kingdom; and hath taken a course to preserve our name, and honour, and persons, to eternity. And it is well observed, that after these expressions, we meet not with such impatient or despairing passages, as we had before; which shews that they had inspired him with new life and comfort. Latter day - At the day of the general resurrection and judgment, which, as those holy patriarchs well knew and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the world. The earth - The place upon which Christ shall appear and stand at the last day. Heb. upon the dust; in which his saints and members lie or sleep, whom he will raise out of it. And therefore he is fitly said to stand upon the dust, or the grave, or death; because then he will put that among other enemies under his feet. (ibid.)

 

Acts 13:13-25

 

Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia

 

            13 Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem; 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.” 16 So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak:

            “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance 20 for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. 21 Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ 23 Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; 24 before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’ (Acts 13:13-25, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from July 17, 2009 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from September 5, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 20, 2007 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from September 8, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 15, 2005 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One).

 

After the events on the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:6-12), Paul, Barnabas and John Mark continue their journey by sailing to the mainland. “Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia” (Acts 13:13a). In passing we note that Saul (the Jewish name), “also known as Paul” (v. 9, his Roman name, cf. Christopher R. Matthews, NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Acts. 13:9), appears to be in charge. According to Mary K. Milne, Perga was “a city near the Kestros River in the district of Pamphylia, about twelve miles inland from the southern coast of Asia Minor.” She adds that according to an inscription found there, “the inhabitants considered Greek heroes of the Trojan War to be the founders of their city. Second-century coins minted in Perga depict a statue of Artemis Pergaia standing in a temple, evidence that the city must have been a cult site” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Perga). It would appear to be near the center of the southern coast of Asia Minor, about half-way from Antioch of Syria to Ephesus on a straight line (cf. Map 14, NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007). Luke informs us that, at Perga, “John, however left them and returned to Jerusalem” (v. 13b). Later we will be reminded of John Mark’s departure when Paul and Barnabas disagree over including him in the second missionary journey (15:37-39).

 

At this point, however, Paul and Barnabas, traveling inland, “went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia” (13:14a). This city was “located in the east-central region of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), on the banks of the Anthius River. Founded prior to 280 B.C., it was strongly fortified by the Greeks and later by the Romans. Declared a free city by the Romans in 189 B.C., and named a Roman colony by Augustus prior to 6 B.C., it served as the center of civil and military administration in the southern portion of the Roman province of Galatia. [It was] a thoroughly hellenized, Greek-speaking city” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Antioch of Pisidia). According to Matthews, “Antioch [was] near Pisidia” (op. cit., on v. 14). Mary K. Milne says that Pisidia was “a mountainous region just north of Pamphylia in south-central Asia Minor which, in 25 B.C., became part of the Roman province of Galatia.” She adds that “there was apparently a sizable Jewish community (Acts 13:14-15; 14:24)” in Antioch (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Pisidia). In Antioch, “on the sabbath day,” says Luke, “they went into the synagogue and sat down” (v. 14b).

 

As the synagogue service takes its course, there was a “reading from the law [i.e. Torah, the Pentateuch] and the prophets [from the Former Prophets, Joshua-Judges-Samuel-Kings or the Latter Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Twelve]” (v. 15a). The reading from the prophets would be called the Haftorah. After the reading “the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation (lovgoV paraklhvsewV, logos parakl‘seÇs, cf. Heb. 13:22 in reference to the Epistle to the Hebrews) for the people, give it’ ” (v. 15b). With the occasion thus set, Luke reports a major sermon by Paul in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:16-41). Luke has a habit of presenting in some detail an apostolic sermon for each kind of setting (cf. the Pentecost sermon of Peter addressed to the Jews gathered from many nations for Pentecost, Acts 2:14-40; his sermon to the Jerusalem Jews in the temple after his healing the lame man, 3:12:26; Stephen’s speech before the Council, 7:2-53; Peter’s sermon to the Gentile God-fearers at the house of Cornelius, 10:34-43; Paul’s sermon to philosophically minded Athenians at the Areopagus, 17:22-31; and his farewell speech to the Ephesian Elders at Miletus, 20:18-35). Then there are Paul’s speeches of defense in the Jerusalem temple (22:1-21), before the council (the Sanhedrin) (23:1-6), before Felix (24:10-21), and before Festus, Agrippa II, and Bernice (26:2-29). During the shipwreck Paul delivers a speech of encouragement (27:21-26). Assuming a unique setting for each of these, it’s fair to say that Luke does not record more than one lengthy “sample sermon” for each kind of audience or setting, but there is enough there for a kind of first century Christian pastor’s manual.

 

When invited, “Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak” (Acts. 13:16a). According to Beverly Roberts Gaventa, “The posture and gesture are those of a Greco-Roman orator” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Acts 13:16a). And then begins Luke’s example of a sermon for such a setting. “You Israelites,” says Paul, “and others who fear God (oiJ fobouvmenoi to;n qeovn, hoi phoboumenoi ton theon), listen” (v. 26b). According to Matthews, “others who fear God, here and v. 26 [is] probably equivalent to ‘devout converts [oiJ sebovmenoi proshvlutoi, hoi sebomenoi pros‘lytoi]’ to Judaism in v. 43 (where ‘convert’ is the Gk word for proselyte; see 6:5n)” (op. cit.., on v. 16). In the earlier note, Matthews says that Nicolaus, one of the Seven, called a proselyte (proshvlutoV, pros‘lytos), was “a Gentile convert to Judaism, implying that the others were born Jews” (ibid., on 6:5).

 

Paul begins, as many in Israel do, by reviewing their history. “The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors,” he says, “and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it” (13:17). He refers to the wilderness wandering, “For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness” (v. 18); and the conquests in Canaan and their inheritance of the land, “After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years” (vv. 19, 20a). On “seven nations,” says Gaventa, “see Deut. 7:1,” and “On the land as an inheritance, see Josh. 14:1-2” (op. cit., on v. 19). Matthews says, “Four hundred fifty years from the entrance into Canaan to the building of the Temple may be an approximation” (op. cit., on v. 20), but Gaventa has a different understanding: “Four hundred fifty years,” she says, is “apparently including the four hundred years prior to the exodus (Gen. 15:13)” (op. cit., on v. 20).

 

“After that,” says Paul, “he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel” (v. 20b, referring to the Book of Judges and the beginning of 1 Samuel). “Then,” says Paul, “They asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years” (v. 21). “On the request for and granting of a king,” says Gaventa, “see 1 Sam. 8:5, 10; 10:21, 24.” As for the “forty years,” she adds, “see also Josephus, Antiquities 6.378; cf. 1 Sam. 13:1” (ibid., on v. 21). As noted earlier, at 1 Sam. 13:1, “The number is lacking in the Heb. text (the verse is lacking in the Septuagint,” and “Two is not the entire number; something has dropped out” (NRSV text notes a and b).

 

As Paul continues, he says, “When he [God] had removed him [Saul], he made David their king” (Acts 13:22a; cf. 1 Sam. 13:14). With brief quotations, Paul adds that God, “in his testimony about him [i.e., David] . . . said, ‘I have found David [Ps. 89:20], son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart [1 Sam. 13:14], who will carry out all my wishes’ ” (v. 22b). With that, the history of Israel concludes and connection is made with Jesus as promised. “Of this man’s [i.e., David’s] posterity,” says Paul, “God has brought to Israel a Savior [swthvr, sÇt‘r], Jesus, as he promised” (v. 23, referring to 2 Sam. 7:12; Isa. 11:1). According to Gaventa, “The connection between David and Jesus runs throughout Luke’s story; see 2:30; 13:34-37; Lk. 1:32; 2:4)” (ibid., on v. 23). “Savior,” says Matthews, was “a term widely used in the Hellenistic world” (op. cit., on Acts 5:30, with cross-reference from 13:23). Elsewhere Matthews says, with reference to Antioch of Syria, “Antioch was a popular city name in Syria and Asia Minor, reflecting the rule of Antiochus I (whose cult-name was ‘savior’), son of Seleucus I, one of the successors of Alexander the Great” (ibid., on 11:19). “The promise [of Acts 13:23],” says Matthews, “is found in 2 Sam. 7:12” (ibid., on 13:23), which says, “When your [i.e. David’s] days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:12). The promise to David refers, in the first place, to his son Solomon, who would build the temple. “He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his kingdom forever” (v. 13). Solomon did build the temple (2 Sam. 6), and David’s dynasty lasted another four centuries, to the time of the Babylonian destruction of the Jerusalem temple (587/586 B.C.); but this promise and related prophecies were understood as looking forward to the reign of a Davidic Messiah. “Before his coming,” says Paul, in reference to the “Savior, Jesus” as he says was “promised” (v. 23), “John [i.e., John the Baptist] had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel” (Acts. 13:24; cf. Lk. 3:3). “And as John was finishing his work,” says Paul, “he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet’ ” (v. 25). “The Baptist’s emphatic denial here (cf. Lk. 3:16; Mk. 1:7; Mt. 3:11; Jn. 1:20),” says Matthews, “may be aimed at those who continue to be his disciples (18:25; 19:3)” (ibid., on v. 25). “John’s ministry connects David and Jesus,” says Gaventa, “but Luke carefully places John the Baptist offstage when Jesus’ ministry begins (see Lk. 3:18-23; 16:16)” (op. cit., on v. 25).

 

Such a sermon clearly has an audience of Jews in mind, together with Gentiles already predisposed favorably toward Judaism, the “God-fearers.” How well do you suppose this sermon would have been accepted at the Areopagus in Athens, for example?

 

John 9:18-41

 

            18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

            24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

 

Spiritual Blindness

 

            35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (John 9:18-41, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here with some editing from March 31, 2009 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when they were repeated from September 5, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when comments were repeated with some editing and supplement from March 27, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were repeated from March 15, 2005 (Tuesday of the week of the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year One), comments that were repeated from February 14, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from September 8, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two).

 

The Jews, who “did not believe that he [the healed blind man] had been blind and had received his sight” (Jn. 9:18), interrogate the parents (vv. 19-23). “Is this your son,” they ask, “who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” (v. 19). The parents confirm his blindness from birth. “We know that this is our son,” they say, “and that he was born blind” (v. 20). But they profess no knowledge of how he now sees, adding, “but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself” (v. 21). John the Evangelist explains: “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue” (v. 22; cf. 12:42; 16:2). According to John, that is why (dia; tou:to, dia touto) his parents said, “He is of age; ask him” (v. 23). Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. suggests that John’s telling the story “seems to reflect the author’s concern–or experience–that those in positions of religious control in his own setting might force Christian believers from community fellowship” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Jn. 9:34). That may well be the case, but it need not imply that John has changed the story in a significant way. Harold W. Attridge holds a view similar to that of Hendricks. Attridge says, “Jewish Christians were not put out of the synagogue until after Jesus’ lifetime, perhaps the 80s CE” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jn. 9:22). At best, that is an argument from silence–a rather weak form of argument. The parents may have feared such a consequence. In any case, it may well be that the beloved disciple has told and retold this story, as admonition, perhaps, or encouragement to Jewish Christian believers within the Johannine community who had experienced, or might experience, excommunication from synagogues.

 

So the Jews confront the healed blind man: “for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner’ ” (v. 24). “Give glory to God,” says Hendricks, is “a technical phrase adjuring the man to tell the truth (Josh. 7:19).” And Hendricks explains, “one who broke the sabbath must be a sinner” (op. cit., on Jn. 9:24). But the healed blind man is unwilling to call Jesus a sinner. “I do not know whether he is a sinner,” he says. “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25). Their questions persist. ““What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” (v. 26). The healed blind man responds by chiding them. “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” (v. 27; cf. v. 15). Their conversation takes on a hard edge, as “they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from’ ” (vv. 28-29). The contrast between Moses and Jesus reminds the reader of the comparison of the “manna in the wilderness” (6:31) and Jesus as “the bread of life” (6:31), the “bread that came down from heaven” (6:41). Their persistent questions reveal an intention not to believe which, for the healed blind man is astonishing: “Here is an astonishing thing!” he exclaims. “You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes” (v. 30). “We know that God does not listen to sinners,” he says, “but he does listen to the one who worships him and obeys his will” (v. 31). He adds that what Jesus has done–healed his blindness–is totally unprecedented. “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (vv. 32-33). We can paraphrase their response as, “How dare you presume to teach us?” “You were born entirely in sins,” they say, “and are you trying to teach us” (v. 34a), and they expelled him [from the Synagogue] (v. 34b).

 

From this confrontation the scene shifts. “Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (v. 35; cf. 1:51; 3:14-15; 6:37, 53; 8:28). His answer is clearly affirmative. “He answered, ‘And who is he sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him’ ” (v. 36). In response, “Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he’ ” (v. 37). In response, the man “said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped him” (v. 38). According to David K. Rensberger, revised by Harold W. Attridge, “Worshiped him [means] bowed down before him” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jn. 9:38).

 

Jesus responds by setting up the contrast between the blind man who now sees, and the spiritual blindness of those who fail to believe. He says, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind” (v. 39; cf. 3:19; 5:22, 24, 30; 8:16; 12:30; 16:8, 11). John tells us that “some of the Pharisees near [Jesus] heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?” (v. 40). Their question, introduced by the negative particle mhv (m‘, rather than ouj, ou), shows that they expect a negative response, “No, of course you are not blind!” But Jesus instead provides the answer that, in their heart of hearts, they expected. “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (v. 41).

 

In the NRSV, quotation marks indicate that Jesus’ response extends from 9:41 through 10:5 (so many recent translations, e.g. NEB, RSV, NIV, TNIV, NKJV, New Living Bible), thus making the “thieves and bandits” (10:8; cf. vv. 1, 10) of the Parable (or analogy) of the Good Shepherd (10:1-18), tomorrow’s reading, a reference to these Pharisees (9:40). Quotation marks, that were not used in the ancient manuscripts, are inserted in the translated text at the discretion of modern translators and editors. Several versions not cited above lack quotation marks, but there appears to be a general consensus that in John’s narrative the thieves and bandits of the parable represent the Pharisees who challenged the healed blind man. According to Hendricks, “the Pharisees’ refusal to admit spiritual blindness demonstrates their sin” (op. cit., on v. 41). Lord, open our eyes, that we may see!

 

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for August 20, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net