Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• This is the first of Jesus’ four predictions of his upcoming death (16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:2). Both Matthew and Luke keep these predictions from the Markan tradition, though only Matthew adds the fourth.
• “From that time on” (apo tote) in v. 21 marks the turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. Up to this point, Jesus’ ministry was a public one, preaching, teaching, and healing in the Galilee region. From here until 20:34, Jesus’ ministry shifts inward to teaching only the disciples. Chapter 21 is the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of the passion narrative.
• 17:22 makes it clear that these passion predictions are about God handing Jesus over to a group of people, not one group of people handing Jesus over to another to be killed. God is the primary actor in Jesus’ impending death.
• A single definite article begins the list of elders, high priests, and scribes that Jesus said he was being handed over to, making the Jewish leadership a united front. It is not the Jewish people whom Jesus is handed over to, but the religious leadership.
• Both the verb for “be killed” and “be raised” are in the passive voice, what is often called the “divine passive.” This is to be clear that Jesus did not rise on his own, but his resurrection was an act of God.
• In v. 22, “took him aside” is probably better translated as “took hold of,” as in “Peter took hold of Jesus [by the arm]…” Peter’s “rebuke” to Jesus uses prayer-like words. In light of Jesus’ reference to God’s thoughts versus human thoughts, it can be read as a prayer. The problem is that Peter’s idea of success is a human one, and is different than God’s. In Peter’s view, Jesus’ success cannot include his suffering and death. But in Jesus’ perspective, that is the definition of success.
• “Get behind me, Satan” (v. 23) recognizes the temptation for Jesus to view his mission by human criteria of success rather than by God’s. The verb for “get” is the same as the verb for “go” in Jesus’ temptation by the devil in 4:10.
• In this story in Mark’s gospel, Jesus began to address the crowd at v. 24. Matthew changed that to focus Jesus’ teachings directly on the meaning of discipleship for those who are already in the community. These words are not an invitation to discipleship for outsiders, they are a challenge for insiders. The word “become” is a poor translation of the Greek, the NIV translation is better. Following Jesus is a matter of will, there is an aspect of decision, but not the initial decision. It’s the difference between justification (Jesus chose/saves us) and sanctification (how we live into that promise) that we’ve talked about before.
• V. 28 could mean a lot of different things. The most likely is that Matthew was literally referring to the end of time, which he thought was coming very soon. Like within the next days, months, or definitely years. It is one of the problems Paul addressed in his writings, when followers started dying of old age and Jesus had not yet returned.
• The point of this scene is to set the fact that the death of Jesus was not an accident, but was part of the divine plan. Jesus was not a victim; he was a knowing and willing participant.
• This call for discipleship is neither self-fulfillment nor meaningless self-denial. Rather it is a lack of focus on self at all.
• The call to discipleship is based on faith in Christ and confidence in future victory. It is not based on a reasonable conclusion about the current status, but the faith that something which already happened is changing things for the better.
• The call to discipleship happens in community.
• Discipleship is not a destination, it is a journey of learning.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
The extraordinary can look so ordinary
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Conversation Points for Matthew 16:13-20
Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Matthew sets this exchange between Jesus and Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Mark had it on the road on the way to Caesarea Philippi and Luke dropped the location entirely, so we can assume that the location is once again more theological than geographical. Caesarea Philippi twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee, was a city with rich nationalistic and religious associations, both Jewish and pagan. In ancient times, it was a site of a Baal cultic center. Under Grecian authority had been called Paneas because it housed a worship site for the Greek god Pan. Herod the Great renamed the city after he built a temple to Caesar Augustus there. After Herod the Great’s death, his son Philip enlarged the town and renamed it after Tiberius Caesar and himself, thus the name at the time of Jesus of Caesarea Philippi. During the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70 (when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed), Caesarea was a recreation spot for the Roman general Vespasian (Vespasian began the siege of Jerusalem which led to the destruction of the Temple, then left his son Titus in charge after Vespasian became emperor). Caesarea remained a prime location for Titus, who returned there after the fall of Jerusalem, where according to the ancient historian Josephus, he had several Jewish revolutionaries thrown to wild animals. By setting the scene in Caesarea Philippi, Matthew places Jesus’ confession as the Messiah right in the heart of the Roman occupation.
• Jesus’ question to the disciples was not because he didn’t know what people thought of him, it was to make clear the difference between the disciples’ knowledge of Jesus and others’ knowledge of Jesus. Unlike in Mark, where Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah is the first time Jesus was correctly identified, in Matthew, Jesus had already identified himself in Christological terms before. In Matthew, this scene serves to mark the separation between the new community of Jesus followers from the old community which reject him.
• However, it cannot be said based on these responses that the people had a low view of Jesus. The prophets listed—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, etc.—were not just prophets, but very highly regarded prophets. Jesus called himself a prophet, so the problem is not identifying Jesus as a prophet, but that such identification does not go far enough.
• In v. 17, Jesus’ plural address to all the disciples focuses to a singular address just to Peter. Peter holds a unique role in Matthew’s Gospel as both the spokesperson for all the disciples and a representative of all Christians, but also as the founder of the new community. Peter’s role as founder is not based on his superior insight or achievements, but on what Jesus has revealed to him. Peter, with his strengths and weaknesses, is a representative of Christian faith.
• The name “Peter” comes from the Greek petros, meaning “stone” or “rock.” The English translation of v. 18, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” misses the word play in the sentence by inserting the common sounding name Peter. There is no evidence of Peter being a common name before this point. The Greek reads more like “you are Rocky (petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.” It is unclear whether this nickname is new to Simon here, or if is given new importance. Up to this point, only the narrator had used it.
• Though Peter is the foundation, Jesus is still the builder. The word translated “build” (oikodomeo) also appears in relation to the Temple in 27:40 (‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’)
• The word “church” (ekklesia) appears only here in v. 18 and in 18:17 (“If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector”). In Greek, ekklesia was used in reference to the local political assembly. Matthew used it to mean the renewed people of God.
• Hades is the realm of the dead, not a place of punishment. The word translated “overcome” has the sense of “be stronger than.” So the point is partially that the church will never die. Hades may also refer to the underworld where evil came from. So there is also the sense that the church will never be destroyed by evil. The point is not triumphalistic, that the church is battering down the gates of Hades. The two kingdoms, the church and Hades, stand apart from each other and struggle between each other until Christ comes again, but evil will never prevail.
• The reference to Peter holding the keys in v. 19 is not the popular piety image of Peter as the guard to the gates of heaven. Peter’s role is not to decide who gets into heaven someday, it is a current task. The holder of the keys is the chief teacher, who loosens by teaching. The language of binding and loosing is rabbinic terminology for teaching, having the authority to interpret and apply scripture. Jesus gives this authority, to teach in his name and to apply those teachings, to Peter, and thus to the whole church.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Matthew sets this exchange between Jesus and Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Mark had it on the road on the way to Caesarea Philippi and Luke dropped the location entirely, so we can assume that the location is once again more theological than geographical. Caesarea Philippi twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee, was a city with rich nationalistic and religious associations, both Jewish and pagan. In ancient times, it was a site of a Baal cultic center. Under Grecian authority had been called Paneas because it housed a worship site for the Greek god Pan. Herod the Great renamed the city after he built a temple to Caesar Augustus there. After Herod the Great’s death, his son Philip enlarged the town and renamed it after Tiberius Caesar and himself, thus the name at the time of Jesus of Caesarea Philippi. During the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70 (when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed), Caesarea was a recreation spot for the Roman general Vespasian (Vespasian began the siege of Jerusalem which led to the destruction of the Temple, then left his son Titus in charge after Vespasian became emperor). Caesarea remained a prime location for Titus, who returned there after the fall of Jerusalem, where according to the ancient historian Josephus, he had several Jewish revolutionaries thrown to wild animals. By setting the scene in Caesarea Philippi, Matthew places Jesus’ confession as the Messiah right in the heart of the Roman occupation.
• Jesus’ question to the disciples was not because he didn’t know what people thought of him, it was to make clear the difference between the disciples’ knowledge of Jesus and others’ knowledge of Jesus. Unlike in Mark, where Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah is the first time Jesus was correctly identified, in Matthew, Jesus had already identified himself in Christological terms before. In Matthew, this scene serves to mark the separation between the new community of Jesus followers from the old community which reject him.
• However, it cannot be said based on these responses that the people had a low view of Jesus. The prophets listed—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, etc.—were not just prophets, but very highly regarded prophets. Jesus called himself a prophet, so the problem is not identifying Jesus as a prophet, but that such identification does not go far enough.
• In v. 17, Jesus’ plural address to all the disciples focuses to a singular address just to Peter. Peter holds a unique role in Matthew’s Gospel as both the spokesperson for all the disciples and a representative of all Christians, but also as the founder of the new community. Peter’s role as founder is not based on his superior insight or achievements, but on what Jesus has revealed to him. Peter, with his strengths and weaknesses, is a representative of Christian faith.
• The name “Peter” comes from the Greek petros, meaning “stone” or “rock.” The English translation of v. 18, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” misses the word play in the sentence by inserting the common sounding name Peter. There is no evidence of Peter being a common name before this point. The Greek reads more like “you are Rocky (petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.” It is unclear whether this nickname is new to Simon here, or if is given new importance. Up to this point, only the narrator had used it.
• Though Peter is the foundation, Jesus is still the builder. The word translated “build” (oikodomeo) also appears in relation to the Temple in 27:40 (‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’)
• The word “church” (ekklesia) appears only here in v. 18 and in 18:17 (“If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector”). In Greek, ekklesia was used in reference to the local political assembly. Matthew used it to mean the renewed people of God.
• Hades is the realm of the dead, not a place of punishment. The word translated “overcome” has the sense of “be stronger than.” So the point is partially that the church will never die. Hades may also refer to the underworld where evil came from. So there is also the sense that the church will never be destroyed by evil. The point is not triumphalistic, that the church is battering down the gates of Hades. The two kingdoms, the church and Hades, stand apart from each other and struggle between each other until Christ comes again, but evil will never prevail.
• The reference to Peter holding the keys in v. 19 is not the popular piety image of Peter as the guard to the gates of heaven. Peter’s role is not to decide who gets into heaven someday, it is a current task. The holder of the keys is the chief teacher, who loosens by teaching. The language of binding and loosing is rabbinic terminology for teaching, having the authority to interpret and apply scripture. Jesus gives this authority, to teach in his name and to apply those teachings, to Peter, and thus to the whole church.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Monday, August 21, 2017
I Am My Brother's Keeper: A Sermon on Matthew 15:21-28
Before we get started, I want to hold up these two pictures. I’ll tell you who these people are in a second, but for now, just notice them. As a warning, we’re going to get in pretty deep today. Because wow, has it been a week. It feels important that we have a conversation about what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. Let’s start by naming what happened in Charlottesville. Throngs of white men parading through the streets carrying KKK signs and confederate flags and swastikas was white Americans proclaiming superiority over Americans of color. There are not multiple sides here. What happened in Charlottesville is racism; it is sin and evil manifest in the world. But before we get into this, I want to point out that this picture (left) is of the man who drove a car into a group of people protesting against the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, injuring nineteen people and killing one. And this picture (right) is an artist’s rendering of what Jesus probably looked like. And of these two men, this is the one who looks like he could be my brother (left).
What happened in Charlottesville, Virginia is not some horrible but far away tragedy that we should pray about, but cannot really do anything about. We also have to talk about this because just because this didn’t happen here, in Calhoun County—which, as an aside, is named after John C. Calhoun, noted for calling slavery “a positive good” ordained by God—just because this did not happen here, does not mean that it could not. Did you know that there are twenty-eight identified hate groups in Michigan? Or that there is a Ku Klux Klan chapter headquartered in Battle Creek? Racism is real and it is vile and it is happening here.
But the most important reason why we have to talk about this, why we have to react to this, is that this sort of hatred is being perpetrated in the name of Jesus. Let me read to you from the home page of the Battle Creek chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. “We are White Christian patriots of the true Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan of our great country. We are for the future of our white Christian children and for our generations to come, join a traditional white klan who believes in the teachings of Jesus.” The eighth commandment declares, “you shall not bear false witness,” and this is false witness. This is a perversion of our sacred scriptures in the pursuit of evil. This man could be my brother; he is my brother in Christ. And when Cain asked God “am I my brother’s keeper,” God’s answer was clear. Yes, we are our brother’s keeper. Those of us who look like we could be related to this guy cannot claim that we follow this guy if we are silent in the face of it.
Of course we know this. We know racism is a sin. We know God created everyone in God’s own image, and that includes all ethnicities and skin tones. None of us carried tiki torches and marched through the streets last weekend. And we don’t know this guy. I don’t know any of the people who marched in Charlottesville. I don’t know who the Klansmen in Battle Creek are. I’ve been wrestling with how even to talk about it with you all, because I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to tell you to do. White supremacist protests, the fear that seems to drive our political discourse, the school-to-prison pipeline, and all of the countless large and small ways that systemic racism plays itself out all around us every day is a huge problem, and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it. It is not enough to preach a fiery sermon about the sin of racism, we know that already. It is not enough to offer prayers that do not lead to change. As a white, heterosexual, middle-class, well-educated, Christian American, I benefit from the systems of oppression that keep others captive. I am in bondage to the sin of racism and privilege. I did not ask for it, I do not want it. But it is mine, I have it. We all do. And for me to stand up here and preach some kind of fire and brimstone sermon about how evil they are so that I feel better about myself is nothing more than chaff. So what then are we to do? If this is sin, our sin, even though we were not a part of it, and had nothing to do with it, how then do we live?
So that is the Law, dear sisters and brothers. But here is the Gospel. This Gospel reading for this morning tells us that the grace and the love and the forgiveness of the kingdom of God is so big, so expansive, so all consuming, that even God cannot contain it. I know, it doesn’t make sense that the kingdom of God cannot be contained by God. I have to assume it’s one of those things that’s beyond human understanding. Maybe someday I’ll get to ask God about it, or maybe when I’m faced with the full blown glory of the kingdom I won’t care anymore about the specifics, but that’s what this reading tells us. So powerful is God’s plan for the salvation of the world, that even God will not be contained by God’s own theology. Check this. We know the plan for salvation, because Jesus told the disciples. Before Jesus, there was Israel as God’s chosen people. Then Jesus came “only to the house of Israel.” This wasn’t the first time he said it, remember him saying that to the disciples a couple weeks ago? Then, after the resurrection, Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission, that they were to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Jerusalem, Samaria and Galilee, and then the world. That’s the order. Except this Canaanite woman showed up and was like, no, the kingdom of God is for me too. And God through Jesus was like, yep, “great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Even God’s own plan for the salvation of the world, necessary and valuable as it is, does not stand in the way of the overwhelming compassion and grace and love of God. So yes, the entrenched horror of racism in our nation, the violence and hatred in our world, the wages of sin and evil and death that hold us captive no matter how much we try to escape them, those things are real and they make us feel powerless. Dear friends in Christ, they may be too big for us to comprehend and to handle, but they are not too big for God. What this story tells us, what the whole of scripture tells us, is that nothing, not even death itself, not even God’s own plan, will keep God from drawing God’s whole creation to God’s self.
So how are we to live? We have a model this morning in the Canaanite woman. Who identified Jesus for who he was, Lord, Son of David, and demanded that he live up to that identity. What the Canaanite woman did was say to him, Jesus, I know who you are, I know how powerful and merciful and mighty you are, I know that you are God incarnate, and I demand that you be God. And for demanding this of him, for demanding that he be who he is, Jesus called her faith great. Peter said, “Lord, if it is you…” and Jesus said he had little faith. This woman said, Jesus, do this, and he said she had great faith. Demanding that God be God is an act of great faith that has rich scriptural tradition. Jacbob wrestling an angel, Job, the Psalmist, the prophets, all stood in the glory of God and said, God, I know who you are, be that now. God is not some small egoed being who needs us to speak nicely to make God feel good. God is God. God big and strong and powerful, the creator of the universe, who holds all of time in almighty hands, God can hold our anger and take our demands. To argue with God, to demand that God be God is, as Jesus says here, a mark of great faith.
So one thing we can do is we can, like the Canaanite woman, demand that God show up and be God. That God show up in a broken and hurting world and bring peace. That God make clear that racism and violence and oppression are not God, but are false prophets, and to bring about the kingdom of heaven now. We can, and we should pray that God be God and that God come now. But here’s the caution. When we pray that God be God, and that God show up, God may well show up in us. Remember what happened when Jesus told the disciples to pray that God would send laborers into the harvest? The next thing he did was send them. Or when Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water”? Jesus said, OK, come on out here. The danger in demanding that God show up is God will; God will show up in us. Will make us the ones who are bringing peace and hope and healing to a broken world. God very well may show up in us naming racist systems and dismantling oppression and standing up to false prophets who tout God’s name to justify their prejudice.
So while we are praying, we can prepare ourselves to be sent. The Center for Diversity and Innovation at KCC has all kinds of classes and workshops on recognizing and dismantling racism. Go to their website, attend a training, check out some online resources. Or ask me. I have some books in my office I can lend you about faith, racism, and liberation theology. I can also give you a reading list of other options. Get with some friends, or other folk here at Trinity, pick a book, start a discussion with each other. Based on what we read in the Bible, it seems very likely that God may well be sending us out to be about bringing the kingdom of God on earth, so it behooves us to be as prepared and educated as we can when that time comes.
You can also practice having real and honest conversations with people about difficult and sensitive issues. On Sunday, September 24th, a couple of people from Open Hearts, Open Church will be here to lead us in a discussion about the LGBTQ community and faith. And yes, that is a different issue than racism, but the LGBTQ community is another group who has had scripture used as a weapon against them, and some of the tools are the same. We can practice having hard conversations, practice being open and vulnerable with each other about our own biases, so that when we are faced with such questions in the world, we know who we are, what the Bible says, and where we stand. Knowing how to respond takes practice. I have a seminary degree and it still took me all week to draft this sermon. But we can practice. We can learn. And we can have the words, so that when God sends us into the world, we can be confident in our response.
I want to close this morning by sharing where, over the course of this week, I have inexplicable come to find hope in what happened in Charlottesville. As resurrection people, we know that there is always hope in the midst of the deepest despair, and here’s where I found hope this week. The hatred that was on display is not new. These pockets of violence and anger have been seething in secret for years. And how God must have been weeping at all the evil festering silently in God’s name. That evil has been there, and we have not known about it, so we could do nothing about it. But now we know. As Jesus told the disciples earlier in Matthew, there is “nothing in secret that will not become known,” and we know now. We know from our sacred scripture that evil is always defeated when it is brought out of the shadows and into the light. So I give thanks to God this morning that what had been invisible has now been made visible. And I pray that I, that we, may have the faith and the courage of the Canaanite woman to proclaim the power of the kingdom of God. Amen.
Conversation Points for Matthew 15:[10-20], 21-28
Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Chapter fifteen starts with a question from the Pharisees to Jesus about purity rituals. Specifically, why did Jesus and his disciples not wash their hands before they ate. This requires some unpacking in the context of a time in which germs are understood. Germ theory, the knowledge that illness can be transmitted through microscopic organisms on unwashed hands is a very modern concept, like within the last 150 years. Jesus, his disciples, and the Pharisees had no concept of illness being passed by unwashed hands. The question here is not about hygiene, it is about ritual purity. Now, to be clear, purity rituals in scripture often have some basis of community health in them. For example, quarantining someone with a skin ailment could keep it from spreading throughout a community in a time before medical treatments existed. We cannot, with our modern medical knowledge and treatment options, disparage all purity rituals as backwards simply because they no longer apply. Hand washing before meals, however, is a particularly interesting one, because there is no biblical regulation about it. The Pharisees question was not based on biblical purity codes (like Sabbath keeping or kosher food) or no general Jewish practice, but on a specifically Pharisaic tradition. Washing hands before meals was a way the Pharisees separated themselves not just from gentiles, but from other practicing Jews. A modern example might be questioning a church’s adherence to scripture based on whether they use the organ or a drum set in worship.
• Our reading for this week starts with Jesus addressing the crowd in response to his conversation with the Pharisees. Jesus’ remarks about it not being what goes in the mouth but what comes out is what defiles has been used to argue Jesus was abolishing purity laws. But Matthew is a thoroughly Jewish writer, so rather than nullifying Torah, Jesus seems to be getting to the heart of the matter of purity codes, the inner commitments that are expressed in how we speak and act.
• The story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman is an uncomfortable one, as it reverses the normal roles. Instead of the opponent offering critical statements, here it is Jesus who responds harshly to the woman, and the woman who pushes through until her “great faith” prevails.
• V. 21 starts with Jesus, yet again, responding to the threat by the Pharisees by withdrawing.
• The Canaanite woman addressed Jesus with the traditional later Christian language of faith, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.”
• Dr. Boring reflects that God’s plan for salvation history as laid out in Matthew is that salvation comes first to the Jews, and then expands outward to the gentiles. Here we see an example of how God will not be constrained even by God’s own plan and theology. The kingdom of heaven has come near, so near that even in the ministry of Jesus, God’s mercy is bigger than understanding.
• Struggling with God, as the woman did, is not unbelief, but a sign of great faith (ex. Jacob wrestling with an angel in Genesis 32 or the cries of the Psalmist). As opposed to Peter’s test in ch. 14 (“Lord, if it is you…”), the woman does not challenge or command, she merely stated reality, the kingdom of God is for me too.
• There is temptation to see ourselves as the role of Jesus in the biblical story, to follow Jesus’ example in hospitality and welcome. While that is great, and in fact a mark of Jesus’ effectiveness as a teacher, this story forces us to see ourselves not in the role of Jesus, but in the role of the outsider woman. It challenges us to consider our own sexism and racism, and question how we respond to those whom we see as “other.”
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Chapter fifteen starts with a question from the Pharisees to Jesus about purity rituals. Specifically, why did Jesus and his disciples not wash their hands before they ate. This requires some unpacking in the context of a time in which germs are understood. Germ theory, the knowledge that illness can be transmitted through microscopic organisms on unwashed hands is a very modern concept, like within the last 150 years. Jesus, his disciples, and the Pharisees had no concept of illness being passed by unwashed hands. The question here is not about hygiene, it is about ritual purity. Now, to be clear, purity rituals in scripture often have some basis of community health in them. For example, quarantining someone with a skin ailment could keep it from spreading throughout a community in a time before medical treatments existed. We cannot, with our modern medical knowledge and treatment options, disparage all purity rituals as backwards simply because they no longer apply. Hand washing before meals, however, is a particularly interesting one, because there is no biblical regulation about it. The Pharisees question was not based on biblical purity codes (like Sabbath keeping or kosher food) or no general Jewish practice, but on a specifically Pharisaic tradition. Washing hands before meals was a way the Pharisees separated themselves not just from gentiles, but from other practicing Jews. A modern example might be questioning a church’s adherence to scripture based on whether they use the organ or a drum set in worship.
• Our reading for this week starts with Jesus addressing the crowd in response to his conversation with the Pharisees. Jesus’ remarks about it not being what goes in the mouth but what comes out is what defiles has been used to argue Jesus was abolishing purity laws. But Matthew is a thoroughly Jewish writer, so rather than nullifying Torah, Jesus seems to be getting to the heart of the matter of purity codes, the inner commitments that are expressed in how we speak and act.
• The story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman is an uncomfortable one, as it reverses the normal roles. Instead of the opponent offering critical statements, here it is Jesus who responds harshly to the woman, and the woman who pushes through until her “great faith” prevails.
• V. 21 starts with Jesus, yet again, responding to the threat by the Pharisees by withdrawing.
• The Canaanite woman addressed Jesus with the traditional later Christian language of faith, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.”
• Dr. Boring reflects that God’s plan for salvation history as laid out in Matthew is that salvation comes first to the Jews, and then expands outward to the gentiles. Here we see an example of how God will not be constrained even by God’s own plan and theology. The kingdom of heaven has come near, so near that even in the ministry of Jesus, God’s mercy is bigger than understanding.
• Struggling with God, as the woman did, is not unbelief, but a sign of great faith (ex. Jacob wrestling with an angel in Genesis 32 or the cries of the Psalmist). As opposed to Peter’s test in ch. 14 (“Lord, if it is you…”), the woman does not challenge or command, she merely stated reality, the kingdom of God is for me too.
• There is temptation to see ourselves as the role of Jesus in the biblical story, to follow Jesus’ example in hospitality and welcome. While that is great, and in fact a mark of Jesus’ effectiveness as a teacher, this story forces us to see ourselves not in the role of Jesus, but in the role of the outsider woman. It challenges us to consider our own sexism and racism, and question how we respond to those whom we see as “other.”
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Monday, August 14, 2017
Take Heart, I AM; Do Not Be Afraid: A Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33
I was not a particularly brave or adventurous kid. When I was five or six—some developmentally appropriate age for it—my parents bought me my first two-wheeler bicycle. Complete with the requisite training wheels. The idea behind the training wheels is they would offer a buffer as I was learning to balance until eventually I would just naturally learn to ride on two wheels. This was not what happened. What happened was I became incredibly adept at riding at a tilt, as I always kept one training wheel firmly on the ground. I didn’t even like the feeling of switching from one training wheel to another as the bike turned. So whichever side I chose for the day, I stuck with. I learned to turn my bike while keeping all of my weight on one side, actually quite the balance feat in itself. Especially considering we lived on a dead end, so my bike track was an oval. Like a NASCAR driver, I could make endless left turns, while simultaneously keeping all of my weight, and the tilt of the bike on the right training wheel.
My parents tried raising the height of the training wheels to coax me out of the habit, but to no avail. I just rode my bike at a sharper and sharper tilt. After, honestly, several years of this, my father recognized defeat. The training wheels were going to have to go if he was going to have any hope of sending his oldest child off to college with a training wheel free bicycle. Thus began the period of my father’s life where his exercise regiment consisted of jogging alongside me as I road up and down the street, holding the bike upright by a handle on the back of the seat that must have been designed for just this purpose. I was not a fan of this experience. After all, I could go a lot faster on training wheels then Dad could run. It was boring having to ride up and down the street with my father holding me back. But Dad, bless him, was persistent, and every day when he got home from work, there we were, running up and down the street in front of our house, me on my little pink bicycle and cantaloupe-shaped helmet with my exhausted father chasing along beside.
The truth was I was completely capable of riding a two-wheel bicycle. Years of riding at a tilt and carefully controlling the switch from one training wheel to the other had given me excellent spatial awareness and body control. To this day I can easily slow-ride a bicycle at comfortable walking speed. What I lacked was not skill, what I lacked was confidence. In these trips up and down the street, at some point Dad would eventually let go, either as part of the learning process or out of sheer exhaustion, and I would do just fine until the moment I realized he was no longer holding on to the seat. At which point I would immediately topple over into the bushes. More proof that this was a mental block on my part, I always toppled into the bushes, never the street where it might hurt. And, more specifically, it was always the ivy bushes, which were softer, never my neighbors’ prickly juniper. So I sympathize with Peter in our Gospel reading today. Who, while his attention was on Jesus and trying to figure out who he was, was totally capable of walking on the water. It was only when he was out of the boat and noticed the winds and the waves that he recognized the independence of what he was doing and began to falter.
But before we get to Peter, let’s take a look at the rest of the story. Remember, this summer we are reading scripture through a theological rather than a historical lens, to learn Jesus is teaching us about how to be disciples and to carry out his mission. That’s not to say that the history of what Jesus did is not important, it’s just that we have six months of the church year already dedicated to learning about the life of Jesus. So for these six months, we’re focusing not on the miracles themselves, but on the lessons we can take from these miracles about how Jesus wants us to live and work and be in the world. The question for us this morning is not, how in the world did Jesus walk on water? The question is what does this story of Jesus walking on water teach us about who Jesus is and how are we as his disciples respond to his call.
To get to this question, let’s take a look at some of the details in the story and what they would have meant to Matthew’s ancient near east audience. The story starts out with Jesus sending his disciples ahead of him in a boat across the sea, while he remained behind on the shore to pray. “The sea” in scripture is always both a geographical and a theological location. Anytime you hear “the sea” in the Bible, you should immediately think about chaos and lack of control, because that is what the sea represented in ancient near east imagination. It is why in the creation story, when the earth is a formless void, God’s voice moved over the waters. Or why the Psalmist cries for God to save him from the sea. Or in Revelation why God promised that the sea would be no more. It’s not because God has a thing against oceans, it’s because the sea is a metaphor for chaos and destruction. So when Jesus sent his disciples out ahead of him into the sea, yes, this is a geographical locator, the disciples were traveling across the Sea of Galilee from the Gentile side back to the Jewish side. But more importantly, this is a theological locator. Jesus was sending his disciples out ahead of him into a place of chaos and destruction. Much like how Jesus is sending the church, sending us, ahead of him into the world to bring about God’s kingdom.
So there the disciples were, out in the chaos of the sea, battered by the waves in their small boat in the dead of night. When suddenly, Jesus came walking across the waves to them. And again, I encourage you to think less about the miracle itself and more about the metaphor Matthew was weaving with this miracle story. Because since the Epic of Gilgamesh, written some two-thousand years before Jesus, walking on water had been a trait reserved only for deities. Gods and gods alone had the ability to walk across the waves. So Jesus walking on water is more than just a miraculous event, it is a statement about who Jesus is, about the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God.
And in case you missed the message in Jesus walking on water, this connection between God and Jesus is made even more clearly with Jesus’ words. The disciples saw Jesus and cried, “it is a ghost.” “But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, I AM; do not be afraid.” I AM, Jesus said, by way of introduction. I AM is the name God gave to Moses from the burning bush in Egypt. “I AM who I AM… Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” In the midst of the sea, in the middle of a storm, in the dark of the night, in the face of chaos and fear and certain death, Jesus spoke to his disciples, “take heart. I AM, the one whose voice calmed the waters at creation, who led your ancestors from slavery to freedom in Egypt, who gave courage to David and wisdom to Solomon, who spoke through the prophets, who I AM is the very presence of God with you; do not be afraid.”
Which brings us back to Peter. When Peter asked Jesus to command him out of the boat, this was not just asking Jesus to share with him a cool party trick. Peter asked Jesus to let him do something that only gods could do. And Jesus did it! It is no wonder that Peter, upon realizing the enormity of what he was doing, began to panic and falter.
But when this happened, Jesus caught him, saying “you of little faith, why did you doubt?” It’s easy to hear a note of criticism here, like, come on Peter, why are you so bad at being faithful. But the Greek doesn’t carry that tone. “Little faith” is a term Jesus often used toward his disciples in Matthew. It sounds derogatory, but think about the parable of the mustard seed or the yeast. In the kingdom of God a little faith is enough, a good place to start. And this word translated “doubt” is distazo, which is not skepticism, but wavering or indecision. The critique Jesus gave here was not a belittling, you have so little faith, how can you be skeptical? It was an uplifting, you who have this small, tenacious kernel of faith, do not let your attention be distracted from it. Peter’s weakness was not in his lack of faith in Jesus, a little faith is enough faith in the kingdom of heaven. Peter’s weakness was in his distraction and his lack of faith in himself. Jesus had given Peter Jesus’ own authority to walk across the waves, what Peter lacked was the confidence to receive it.
Dear friends in Christ, the message for us in this story is that we who are heirs of this same little faith of Peter, are too vested with Christ’s own authority. The ELCA’s tagline, God’s Work, Our Hands, is not just a tagline. It is a description of how Christ works in the world. Jesus has given us his own divine authority to be God’s hands and feet and heart and voice in the world. We don’t need to pray for a miracle, because we are the miracle. We are the tools God is using to bring about God’s kingdom. If I can build on the bicycle analogy from earlier, Jesus’ life and ministry on earth was like training wheels, the transitional period of the people of God from dependence under the law to freedom in Christ. It was comfortable and safe, a good time for learning, but God knew we were destined for more. And so with Jesus’ ascension, God the Father released the Almighty Hands from the handle on the back of the seat and let us ride on our own. To throw some fancy theological terms out there, this is the difference of justification and sanctification. Justification, letting go of the bike seat, is the work of God. It is the undeniable fact that we are saved by grace through faith, not our faith, but God’s faith in us, and it is a gift from God. We do not deserve it, we could never earn it, and we can never lose it. Justification is the thing Jesus did on the cross to set us free from sin and death and make us God’s children forever. Full stop. Sanctification is what follows. Unlike justification, which is totally on God, sanctification is our work. It is the practice of learning to live as God’s forgiven, loved, and saved people. It is the life-long practice of living, loving, and growing, nurturing that kernel of faith, and learning to ride the bike on our own. Because we are justified by God, because God has given us this gift, we then get to be about the holy and joyful work of learning to live into that gift. It is work, yes, but it is joyful work. Think about how freeing and fun it is to get to learn to be better at something we already know we can do.
And we can ride. Yes, we’re still going to fall in the bushes sometimes, a lot of the times, but that’s what confession and forgiveness is for. It’s why we start every worship by gathering around the font, reflecting on all the times we fell in the metaphorical bushes this week, and hearing again God’s promise that we are forgiven, that we can dust ourselves off, put our failures behind us, and try again. It’s why we end every worship by gathering around the table, hearing the promise that this is Christ’s body for us, by taking Christ’s own self into our very bodies, and finding fuel for the hard work of getting out there any trying again.
So let us go out, dear people of God, to be Christ’s hands and feet and heart and voice in the world. Let us be bold in our welcome and reckless in our invitation. Let us not be afraid to fail, for failing is a part of learning, but let us act boldly to bring about God’s kingdom. We, heirs of Peter, heirs of Christ, have been filled with Christ’s own authority. Take heart, we are God’s; do not be afraid. Amen.
My parents tried raising the height of the training wheels to coax me out of the habit, but to no avail. I just rode my bike at a sharper and sharper tilt. After, honestly, several years of this, my father recognized defeat. The training wheels were going to have to go if he was going to have any hope of sending his oldest child off to college with a training wheel free bicycle. Thus began the period of my father’s life where his exercise regiment consisted of jogging alongside me as I road up and down the street, holding the bike upright by a handle on the back of the seat that must have been designed for just this purpose. I was not a fan of this experience. After all, I could go a lot faster on training wheels then Dad could run. It was boring having to ride up and down the street with my father holding me back. But Dad, bless him, was persistent, and every day when he got home from work, there we were, running up and down the street in front of our house, me on my little pink bicycle and cantaloupe-shaped helmet with my exhausted father chasing along beside.
The truth was I was completely capable of riding a two-wheel bicycle. Years of riding at a tilt and carefully controlling the switch from one training wheel to the other had given me excellent spatial awareness and body control. To this day I can easily slow-ride a bicycle at comfortable walking speed. What I lacked was not skill, what I lacked was confidence. In these trips up and down the street, at some point Dad would eventually let go, either as part of the learning process or out of sheer exhaustion, and I would do just fine until the moment I realized he was no longer holding on to the seat. At which point I would immediately topple over into the bushes. More proof that this was a mental block on my part, I always toppled into the bushes, never the street where it might hurt. And, more specifically, it was always the ivy bushes, which were softer, never my neighbors’ prickly juniper. So I sympathize with Peter in our Gospel reading today. Who, while his attention was on Jesus and trying to figure out who he was, was totally capable of walking on the water. It was only when he was out of the boat and noticed the winds and the waves that he recognized the independence of what he was doing and began to falter.
But before we get to Peter, let’s take a look at the rest of the story. Remember, this summer we are reading scripture through a theological rather than a historical lens, to learn Jesus is teaching us about how to be disciples and to carry out his mission. That’s not to say that the history of what Jesus did is not important, it’s just that we have six months of the church year already dedicated to learning about the life of Jesus. So for these six months, we’re focusing not on the miracles themselves, but on the lessons we can take from these miracles about how Jesus wants us to live and work and be in the world. The question for us this morning is not, how in the world did Jesus walk on water? The question is what does this story of Jesus walking on water teach us about who Jesus is and how are we as his disciples respond to his call.
To get to this question, let’s take a look at some of the details in the story and what they would have meant to Matthew’s ancient near east audience. The story starts out with Jesus sending his disciples ahead of him in a boat across the sea, while he remained behind on the shore to pray. “The sea” in scripture is always both a geographical and a theological location. Anytime you hear “the sea” in the Bible, you should immediately think about chaos and lack of control, because that is what the sea represented in ancient near east imagination. It is why in the creation story, when the earth is a formless void, God’s voice moved over the waters. Or why the Psalmist cries for God to save him from the sea. Or in Revelation why God promised that the sea would be no more. It’s not because God has a thing against oceans, it’s because the sea is a metaphor for chaos and destruction. So when Jesus sent his disciples out ahead of him into the sea, yes, this is a geographical locator, the disciples were traveling across the Sea of Galilee from the Gentile side back to the Jewish side. But more importantly, this is a theological locator. Jesus was sending his disciples out ahead of him into a place of chaos and destruction. Much like how Jesus is sending the church, sending us, ahead of him into the world to bring about God’s kingdom.
So there the disciples were, out in the chaos of the sea, battered by the waves in their small boat in the dead of night. When suddenly, Jesus came walking across the waves to them. And again, I encourage you to think less about the miracle itself and more about the metaphor Matthew was weaving with this miracle story. Because since the Epic of Gilgamesh, written some two-thousand years before Jesus, walking on water had been a trait reserved only for deities. Gods and gods alone had the ability to walk across the waves. So Jesus walking on water is more than just a miraculous event, it is a statement about who Jesus is, about the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God.
And in case you missed the message in Jesus walking on water, this connection between God and Jesus is made even more clearly with Jesus’ words. The disciples saw Jesus and cried, “it is a ghost.” “But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, I AM; do not be afraid.” I AM, Jesus said, by way of introduction. I AM is the name God gave to Moses from the burning bush in Egypt. “I AM who I AM… Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” In the midst of the sea, in the middle of a storm, in the dark of the night, in the face of chaos and fear and certain death, Jesus spoke to his disciples, “take heart. I AM, the one whose voice calmed the waters at creation, who led your ancestors from slavery to freedom in Egypt, who gave courage to David and wisdom to Solomon, who spoke through the prophets, who I AM is the very presence of God with you; do not be afraid.”
Which brings us back to Peter. When Peter asked Jesus to command him out of the boat, this was not just asking Jesus to share with him a cool party trick. Peter asked Jesus to let him do something that only gods could do. And Jesus did it! It is no wonder that Peter, upon realizing the enormity of what he was doing, began to panic and falter.
But when this happened, Jesus caught him, saying “you of little faith, why did you doubt?” It’s easy to hear a note of criticism here, like, come on Peter, why are you so bad at being faithful. But the Greek doesn’t carry that tone. “Little faith” is a term Jesus often used toward his disciples in Matthew. It sounds derogatory, but think about the parable of the mustard seed or the yeast. In the kingdom of God a little faith is enough, a good place to start. And this word translated “doubt” is distazo, which is not skepticism, but wavering or indecision. The critique Jesus gave here was not a belittling, you have so little faith, how can you be skeptical? It was an uplifting, you who have this small, tenacious kernel of faith, do not let your attention be distracted from it. Peter’s weakness was not in his lack of faith in Jesus, a little faith is enough faith in the kingdom of heaven. Peter’s weakness was in his distraction and his lack of faith in himself. Jesus had given Peter Jesus’ own authority to walk across the waves, what Peter lacked was the confidence to receive it.
Dear friends in Christ, the message for us in this story is that we who are heirs of this same little faith of Peter, are too vested with Christ’s own authority. The ELCA’s tagline, God’s Work, Our Hands, is not just a tagline. It is a description of how Christ works in the world. Jesus has given us his own divine authority to be God’s hands and feet and heart and voice in the world. We don’t need to pray for a miracle, because we are the miracle. We are the tools God is using to bring about God’s kingdom. If I can build on the bicycle analogy from earlier, Jesus’ life and ministry on earth was like training wheels, the transitional period of the people of God from dependence under the law to freedom in Christ. It was comfortable and safe, a good time for learning, but God knew we were destined for more. And so with Jesus’ ascension, God the Father released the Almighty Hands from the handle on the back of the seat and let us ride on our own. To throw some fancy theological terms out there, this is the difference of justification and sanctification. Justification, letting go of the bike seat, is the work of God. It is the undeniable fact that we are saved by grace through faith, not our faith, but God’s faith in us, and it is a gift from God. We do not deserve it, we could never earn it, and we can never lose it. Justification is the thing Jesus did on the cross to set us free from sin and death and make us God’s children forever. Full stop. Sanctification is what follows. Unlike justification, which is totally on God, sanctification is our work. It is the practice of learning to live as God’s forgiven, loved, and saved people. It is the life-long practice of living, loving, and growing, nurturing that kernel of faith, and learning to ride the bike on our own. Because we are justified by God, because God has given us this gift, we then get to be about the holy and joyful work of learning to live into that gift. It is work, yes, but it is joyful work. Think about how freeing and fun it is to get to learn to be better at something we already know we can do.
And we can ride. Yes, we’re still going to fall in the bushes sometimes, a lot of the times, but that’s what confession and forgiveness is for. It’s why we start every worship by gathering around the font, reflecting on all the times we fell in the metaphorical bushes this week, and hearing again God’s promise that we are forgiven, that we can dust ourselves off, put our failures behind us, and try again. It’s why we end every worship by gathering around the table, hearing the promise that this is Christ’s body for us, by taking Christ’s own self into our very bodies, and finding fuel for the hard work of getting out there any trying again.
So let us go out, dear people of God, to be Christ’s hands and feet and heart and voice in the world. Let us be bold in our welcome and reckless in our invitation. Let us not be afraid to fail, for failing is a part of learning, but let us act boldly to bring about God’s kingdom. We, heirs of Peter, heirs of Christ, have been filled with Christ’s own authority. Take heart, we are God’s; do not be afraid. Amen.
Conversation Points for Matthew 14:22-33
Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Reading this story in the season of the church year where we focus on how Matthew’s Gospel is a guidebook for discipleship today, the storm-tossed boat becomes a symbol for the church’s storm-tossed journey through history. Highlighting the symbolism is the description of the boat as “battered” (Greek: basanizo, better translation, “being tortured”). Jesus sending the disciples out alone across the lake, where they were beat up by a storm is reminiscent of the spread of the church after Jesus, where during the time of Matthew especially, the followers were facing harsh persecution from the political “storms” of their time.
• In scripture the sea is usually an image to connote chaos or lack of control (eg. Gen 1:1-10 (creation); 7:11 (Noah); Psalm 18:15-16 (“Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters”); 69:1-3 (“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”); 107:23-32; 144:5-8). For Matthew’s audience, being on the sea represented all the anxieties and dark powers that threatened order. In this story, the sea separated the disciples from Jesus, leaving the disciples at the mercy of the chaos of the world.
• Into this chaos, Jesus walked across the water to reach the disciples. While modern minds tend to focus on the gravity-defying nature of the miracle, for the ancient audience, the effect was more theological. Since the Epic of Gilgamesh in the Babylonian culture, walking on water was a skill reserved for deities. That Jesus walked on water to reach the disciples confirmed the presence of God in Jesus. That connection is strengthened by Jesus’ words to the disciples. “It is I,” or “I AM,” is the divine name of God from the Exodus.
• The section about Jesus helping Peter to walk on water is unique to Matthew’s Gospel. It helps underscore the symbolism of the church, because here Jesus extended his authority—the ability to walk on water, a gift reserved for the divine—to one of his disciples.
• Jesus gently rebuked Peter has having “little faith,” a common rebuke of the disciples by Jesus in Matthew. Rather than no faith, little faith evokes a mixture of courage and fear. That tension is underscored by the word translated as “doubt.” The Greek is distazo which is more indecision or wavering than it is skepticism.
• In Mark, the story ends with astonishment and hardened hearts. In Matthew, the disciples fall down and worship Jesus, hard to imagine in a small boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Like so often in Matthew, the image is theological more than it is historical, it represents the gratitude of the church for the presence of Christ in its on-going mission.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Reading this story in the season of the church year where we focus on how Matthew’s Gospel is a guidebook for discipleship today, the storm-tossed boat becomes a symbol for the church’s storm-tossed journey through history. Highlighting the symbolism is the description of the boat as “battered” (Greek: basanizo, better translation, “being tortured”). Jesus sending the disciples out alone across the lake, where they were beat up by a storm is reminiscent of the spread of the church after Jesus, where during the time of Matthew especially, the followers were facing harsh persecution from the political “storms” of their time.
• In scripture the sea is usually an image to connote chaos or lack of control (eg. Gen 1:1-10 (creation); 7:11 (Noah); Psalm 18:15-16 (“Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters”); 69:1-3 (“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”); 107:23-32; 144:5-8). For Matthew’s audience, being on the sea represented all the anxieties and dark powers that threatened order. In this story, the sea separated the disciples from Jesus, leaving the disciples at the mercy of the chaos of the world.
• Into this chaos, Jesus walked across the water to reach the disciples. While modern minds tend to focus on the gravity-defying nature of the miracle, for the ancient audience, the effect was more theological. Since the Epic of Gilgamesh in the Babylonian culture, walking on water was a skill reserved for deities. That Jesus walked on water to reach the disciples confirmed the presence of God in Jesus. That connection is strengthened by Jesus’ words to the disciples. “It is I,” or “I AM,” is the divine name of God from the Exodus.
• The section about Jesus helping Peter to walk on water is unique to Matthew’s Gospel. It helps underscore the symbolism of the church, because here Jesus extended his authority—the ability to walk on water, a gift reserved for the divine—to one of his disciples.
• Jesus gently rebuked Peter has having “little faith,” a common rebuke of the disciples by Jesus in Matthew. Rather than no faith, little faith evokes a mixture of courage and fear. That tension is underscored by the word translated as “doubt.” The Greek is distazo which is more indecision or wavering than it is skepticism.
• In Mark, the story ends with astonishment and hardened hearts. In Matthew, the disciples fall down and worship Jesus, hard to imagine in a small boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Like so often in Matthew, the image is theological more than it is historical, it represents the gratitude of the church for the presence of Christ in its on-going mission.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Conversation Points for Matthew 14:13-21
Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Chapter fourteen begins with the beheading of John the Baptist at a banquet given by King Herod. The feeding of the five thousand contrasts Herod’s meal with the meal provided by King Jesus. The story opens with Jesus “withdrawing” to across the lake, marking Jesus as in a place out of the control of Herod. This is notable in demonstrating how Jesus responds to conflict; the nature of Jesus’ kingship is withdrawal. It also demonstrates Matthew’s lack of concern for chronological details. The last place Jesus was mentioned as being was landlocked Nazareth, so his departure “on a boat” doesn’t really make sense.
• The story of Jesus feeding a large crowd (which appears six times throughout the New Testament, once in each of the Gospels and twice in Mark and Matthew) draws on several scriptural images:
o It takes place in the “wilderness” drawing on the movement of the people of Israel from slavery to freedom – the word “wilderness” occurs 92 times in Exodus-Deuteronomy. Matthew called it a “deserted place” (v. 13).
o Disciples, like the Israelites, doubt that food can be provided (Exodus 16:2-3; Matt 14:17)
o Elisha giving food to one-hundred men from only one bushel (2 Kings 4:42-44)
o Jesus giving of his own body at the Last Supper (Matt 26:20-29)
o The messianic banquet at the end of the age, where there is not just bread and wine, but also fish.
• With the move across the lake in v. 13, the story is now set on the east shore of the sea, Gentile territory. But the crowd is from the Western, Jewish side. Jesus’ movement causes the audience to see a meal served to Jews eaten among Gentiles, a challenging of established purity codes.
• The abundance of leftovers stresses the expansive nature of the meal, a reference to the banquet feast at the end of the age. It also sets this meal apart for the manna in the exodus story that could not be saved. The extravagance is also in Matthew’s reference of “five thousand men, besides women and children” (v. 20). The specification isn’t to exclude women and children, but to leave the number of people open-ended.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Chapter fourteen begins with the beheading of John the Baptist at a banquet given by King Herod. The feeding of the five thousand contrasts Herod’s meal with the meal provided by King Jesus. The story opens with Jesus “withdrawing” to across the lake, marking Jesus as in a place out of the control of Herod. This is notable in demonstrating how Jesus responds to conflict; the nature of Jesus’ kingship is withdrawal. It also demonstrates Matthew’s lack of concern for chronological details. The last place Jesus was mentioned as being was landlocked Nazareth, so his departure “on a boat” doesn’t really make sense.
• The story of Jesus feeding a large crowd (which appears six times throughout the New Testament, once in each of the Gospels and twice in Mark and Matthew) draws on several scriptural images:
o It takes place in the “wilderness” drawing on the movement of the people of Israel from slavery to freedom – the word “wilderness” occurs 92 times in Exodus-Deuteronomy. Matthew called it a “deserted place” (v. 13).
o Disciples, like the Israelites, doubt that food can be provided (Exodus 16:2-3; Matt 14:17)
o Elisha giving food to one-hundred men from only one bushel (2 Kings 4:42-44)
o Jesus giving of his own body at the Last Supper (Matt 26:20-29)
o The messianic banquet at the end of the age, where there is not just bread and wine, but also fish.
• With the move across the lake in v. 13, the story is now set on the east shore of the sea, Gentile territory. But the crowd is from the Western, Jewish side. Jesus’ movement causes the audience to see a meal served to Jews eaten among Gentiles, a challenging of established purity codes.
• The abundance of leftovers stresses the expansive nature of the meal, a reference to the banquet feast at the end of the age. It also sets this meal apart for the manna in the exodus story that could not be saved. The extravagance is also in Matthew’s reference of “five thousand men, besides women and children” (v. 20). The specification isn’t to exclude women and children, but to leave the number of people open-ended.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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