BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Nov. 14, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 66, 67 [Presbyterian: 67]
Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 19, 46 [Presbyterian: 46]
Old Testament: Habakkuk 1:1-4 (5-11) 12-2:1
Epistle: Philippians 3:13-4:1
Gospel: Matthew 23:13-24
Presbyterian Readings for the current day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Have you ever wanted to cry out, "Help! God" or "Why, God?" That's the way Habakkuk begins. "O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,/and you will not listen?/Or cry to you ‘Violence!'/and you will not save?" (Habakkuk 1:2). The prophet sees "wrongdoing," "trouble," "destruction and violence" (v. 3). He complains that "the law becomes slack,/and justice never prevails," adding that "the wicked surround the righteous–therefore judgement comes forth perverted" (v. 4). When we consider that Habakkuk lived "during the height of Babylonian power" ®. Lansing Hicks & Walter Brueggemann, NOAB), we are not surprised at God's reply: "I am rousing the Chaldeans,/that fierce and impetuous nation . . . to seize dwellings not their own" (v. 5). They have horses "swifter than leopards" who "fly like eagles swift to devour" (v. 8). They "come for violence" and "gather captives" (v. 9). Habakkuk recognizes this as coming "judgment" (v. 12) and asks "Why do you look on the treacherous,/and are silent when the wicked swallow/those more righteous than they?" (v. 13). Ancient historians and biblical scholars call Nebuchadrezzar's Babylon the "Neo-Babylonian Empire," the first being more than a millennium earlier, in the times of Hammurabi. Saddam Hussein's apparent attempt to establish a third Babylonian Empire (a fourth if we count the medieval Abbasid Empire). One only hopes this is not another time when "the wicked swallow/those more righteous than they" (v. 13).
Paul presents himself as an example for the Philippian believers: Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us" (Phil. 3:17). In chapter 2, Christ was the example. Paul says, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5), introducing the Christological passage about the humility of Christ–he "emptied himself,/taking the form of a slave" (v.7), to be exalted later (vv. 9-11). So Paul's direction to imitate him includes his leaving behind earthly credentials (3::5-8), to focus on knowing Christ (vv. 8, 10) "and the power of his resurrection." He wants to share Christ's sufferings and death "if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (v. 11). In imitating Paul, the Philippian believers are to focus on their "citizenship . . . in heaven" (v. 20), not "[food for] the belly" and "earthly things" (v. 19), but the coming of the Lord (v. 20) and their resurrection with Christ (v. 21). The apparent contradiction in the Authorized Version, "Not as though I . . . were already perfect" (Phil. 3:12 KJV; "Not that I . . . Have already reached the goal," NRSV), " Let us therefore, as many as be perfect . . ." (v. 15 KJV); "Let those of us then who are mature . . ." (v. 15 NRSV) was resolved by John Wesley: "Not that I have already attained - The prize. He here enters on a new set of metaphors, taken from a race. But observe how, in the utmost fervour, he retains his sobriety of spirit. Or am already perfected - There is a difference between one that is perfect, and one that is perfected. The one is fitted for the race, Php 3:15; the other, ready to receive the prize. But I pursue, if I may apprehend that - Perfect holiness, preparatory to glory. For, in order to which I was apprehended by Christ Jesus - Appearing to me in the way, Acts 26:14. The speaking conditionally both here and in the preceding verse, implies no uncertainty, but only the difficulty of attaining" (Wesley's note on Phil. 3:12, http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/philippians.htm). The prize, the end of the race, is to "attain the resurrection from the dead" (v. 11).
The following is repeated from July 6, 2004:
Matthew 23:13-26. Elwyn E. Tilden and Bruce M. Metzger remind us in comment on Matthew 23:13 (NOAB), "Seven ‘woes' follow; the denunciations are an indictment of some, not all, Pharisees." I emphasize the words, "not all." Matthew has a habit of arranging things topically, whereas Luke puts things in historical context. Luke presents the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4, on the occasion when the disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray" (v. 1). So Luke describes the circumstances when Jesus taught the disciples the prayer, but Matthew includes it in a "collection" of teaching about practical piety, including giving of alms (Mt. 6:2-4), praying in secret (vv. 5-6) without "empty phrases" (vv. 7-8), the Lord's Prayer (vv. 9-13) with a comment on forgiveness (vv. 14-15), teaching about fasting (vv. 16-18), and so forth.
So in Matthew, chapter 23, Matthew has grouped things in a way that seems to make the indictment of some Pharisees very harsh. The church has appreciated Matthew as a kind of "church manual," and it serves that purpose well, in part due to his systematic grouping of similar things together. Luke has parallels to five of Matthew's seven "woes," but the setting is different, and the last is addressed not to a Pharisee, but is given in response to the question of a "lawyer" [nomikos]. "While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him so he went in and took his place at the table" (Lk. 11:37). The "woes" follow: Luke 11:39-41 (without "woe")//Matthew 25:26-27; Luke 11:42//Matthew 23:23-24; Luke 11:43//Mark. 12:38-39//Matthew 23:6 (not a "woe"); Luke 11:47-48 //Matthew 23:29-32.
The lesson for us is to set our own houses in order before we attempt to set others' houses in order.
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.