Shana Tova! שנה טובה

Luke 23:33-43 Proper 29/Christ the King C

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus^* there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[³⁴Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]]^* And they cast lots to divide his clothing. ³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah^* of God, his chosen one!’ ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ ³⁸There was also an inscription over him,^* ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding^* him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah?^* Save yourself and us!’ ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ ⁴²Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into^* your kingdom.’ ⁴³He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

 Did all the Jews crucify and mock Jesus?

 Luke distinguishes between the people, the leaders and the soldiers

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Luke 21:5-13 Proper 28/Ordinary 32 C

Luke 21:5-6 5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

Luke 21:20-24a 20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations.(NIV)

Does Jesus prophecy the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state?

 Is he alone in this?

Jeremiah 7:1-14 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you^* in this place. ⁴Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is^* the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors for ever and ever.

8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord. ¹²Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh.

Deut 28:64-67 64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods– gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”– because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.

Deut 30:3-5 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. (NIV)

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2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Proper 28/Ordinary 32 C

idlers could easily drift into evil (Wis. 13:13Then the good-for-nothing refuse from these remnants, crooked wood grown full of knots, he takes and carves to occupy his spare time. This wood he models with mindless skill, and patterns it on the image of a human being; Sir. 22:1-2 Lazy people are no better than dung; they are repulsive, and no one wants to get near them; 33:26-30 You can use a harness and yoke to tame an animal, and a slave can be tortured in the stocks. Keep him at work, and don’t let him be idle; idleness can only teach him how to make trouble.  Work is what he needs. If he won’t obey you, put him in chains.  But don’t be too severe with anyone, and never be unfair. ³⁰ If you have a slave, treat him as you would want to be treated; you bought him with your hard-earned money.).

The idler thus does not fulfil the purpose of human life, which is to help all things work together as God intends (Gen. 1:26-27). Third, to provide for the idlers J the community used resources that could have gone to better purposes. By contrast, working generates materials for life and blessing for one’s house­hold and that of the community (Ps. 128:2; Prov. 31:27; Ecc. 11:6). It keeps one focused on the good and distracts from evil (Sir. 24:22 Whoever obeys me won’t be ashamed, and those who work with me won’t sin.” 33:28-30 Put them to work so that they aren’t idle, because idleness teaches many evils. Set them to work, as is proper for them, and if they don’t obey, make their shackles heavy. Don’t overburden a person made of flesh, and don’t do anything without exercising good judgment.).

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Luke 20:27-38 Proper 27/Ordinary 32 year C

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him ²⁸and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man^* shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰then the second ³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³²Finally the woman also died. ³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’34 Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’

Genesis 38:8-10 Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother.’ ⁹But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. ¹⁰What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

Deuteronomy 25:5-10 When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her, ⁶and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ ⁸Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her’, ⁹then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.’

1 Enoch 9:10 And the righteous shall arise from their sleep,
And wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.

2 Baruch  49—52 ‘Nevertheless, I Will again ask from you, O Mighty One, yea, I will ask made all things. “In what shape will those live who live in Your day? Or how will the splendor of those who (are) after that time continue? Will they then resume this form of the present, and put on these entrammelling members, Which are now involved in evils, And in which evils are consummated, Or will you perchance change these things which have been in the world As also the world?”  And He answered and said unto me: ‘Hear, Baruch, this word, And write in the remembrance of your heart all that you shall learn. For the earth shall then assuredly restore the dead, [Which it now receives, in order to preserve them]. It shall make no change in their form, But as it has received, so shall it restore them, And as I delivered them unto it, so also shall it raise them.

1 Enoch 15:6—12 But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling.

And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.

2 Baruch 51:10 For in the heights of that world shall they dwell, And they shall be made like unto the angels, And be made equal to the stars, And they shall be changed into every form they desire, From beauty into loveliness, And from light into the splendour of glory.

1. How did the Sadducees differ from the Pharisees in their belief about life after death?

The Sadducees did not believe in it

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Sadducees represented the, traditional attitude towards Scripture. Their rejection of belief in the resurrection from the dead, as well as other developed doctrines of angels and demons (Acts 3.8) indicates not so much a group which was unfaithful to the Torah as one !which refused to go further than what was written. Sadducees, therefore, in so far as we can reconstruct their beliefs, represented a more literalistic approach to the interpretation of Scripture (Ant. 13.297) and their attitude may have been much more widespread than we sometimes suppose. Christian origins – C. Rowland (SPCK 1985)^{. p. 47}

 Which ‘side’ was Jesus on?

The pharisees

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2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Proper 27/ordinary 32 year C

The community needs to be wary of being “deceived” (2:3), a verb that ) Job uses of how idolatry works (31:27). Before Jesus returns, a rebellion (apostasia, apostasy) will occur. Jewish literature sometimes uses the word ‘ “rebellion” of Gentiles who flagrantly violate God’s desires (1 Macc. 2:15 Yhen the king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them offer sacrifice.;Sir. 36:12 Crush the heads of hostile rulers, who say, “We’re all that matters.”). The rebellion will be led by “the lawless one” whose designation—lawless (anomia)—sometime describes Gentile existence (Wis. 5:7 We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it, 23; 15:17 he is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never his idols; 17:2 For when the lawless thought to enslave the holy nation, they themselves lay shackled with darkness, fettered by the long night, confined beneath their own roofs as exiles from the eternal providence.; 2 Macc. 8:17 But he answered in his native language, “Not at all.” Therefore, this brother also received in turn the same punishment as the first.; 3 Macc. 1:27 So when those who were near him saw this, they turned together with the people to appeal to the one who was fully able to come to their aid and not to overlook this insolent transgression; Pss. So/. 17:11 The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it, They destroyed young and old and their children together, 18 hey that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them, As sparrows that fly from their nest.). The “law­less one” lives in violation of torah by making idols and acting contrary to God’s purposes.

Job 19:23-27a Proper 27/ordinary 32

I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

“…far from being an inaccurate translation, the LXX (Greek Septuagint) version may be an accurate translation of an alternative, and in some cases older form of the Hebrew text. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, particularly the complete scroll of Isaiah, has made it clear that the Hebrew text (the Masoretic Text’) is not as unchanged or as monolithic as some suppose. Despite their care, over a thousand years copyists do make mistakes and even sometimes have minds of their own. The LXX is a possible witness to the Hebrew text from which it was translated, centuries earlier than any Hebrew text we now possess.

Our subject is, however not so much accuracy of text as interpretation. One example of interpretation by the LXX is the development of belief in life after death, It is fascinating to see the LXX translation gently nudging its way towards belief in bodily resurrection. For many centuries the biblical belief was that the dead were for ever confined to Sheol, a place in which the dead continue to exist in darkness, dust and helplessness, without wisdom and unable to know or praise God. It is brilliantly and gruesomely described in Isaiah l4,9—l I and Ezekiel 32.l8—32, But a belief was beginning to be felt that God’s love for his creatures was such that God would not allow those to whom be bad committed his love to be cut off from life for ever in this way. job is tending towards this. He has a certain hope, and even questions whether the dead can come back to life:

Will no one hide me in Sheol
and shelter me there till your
anger is past,
fixing a certain day for calling
me to mind?
Can the dead rise again?’ (Job 14.14).

In the depths of his despair be expresses the certainty that somehow he will be finally justified. The text, like the hope itself, is obscure, but one tolerable translation is:

I know that I have a living Defender
And that at the last he will rise up on the dust of the earth.
After my awakening, he will set me close to him,
And from my flesh I shall look on God (Job l9.25—26).

The LXX, however translates the question of Job 14.14 in the Hebrew (‘if a man dies, will he rise again?’) as a statement: ‘if a man dies, he will rise again’. Similarly the LXX translates the obscure 19.26 as ‘to raise up my skin’. These two interpretations are confirmed by the LXX addition at the end of the book ‘It is written that he would rise up again with those whom the Lord raises up’ (Job 42.17a), making it clear that the translator of the book firmly believed in full resurrection. This interpretation of the future life is all the more remarkable in that so much of the Greek tradition, relying on the Platonic dichotomy of body and soul, when it does come to speak of a future life, conceives of it in terms of this Greek anthropology as immortality of the soul, rather than the rising again of the whole person: ‘The souls of the upright are in the bands of God’ (Wisdom of Solomon 3.1. This pseudepigraphic book (conventionally attributed to Solomon, but not in fact written by him) is dated to the last century BCE). Fr. Henry Wansbrough in Perspectives – Woolf Institute Autumn 2011 p. 25

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Luke 19:1-10 Proper 26/Ordinary 31 C

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

‘Sycamore figs, of the variety that grow in the Jordan valley, are mentioned in the Mishnah and in the Babylonian Talmud. They were cultivated for their value as beams for the roofs of houses. One example being, “Abba Saul said; There were sycamore tree trunks in Jericho, and the men of violence seized them by force, [whereupon] the owners arose and consecrated them to Heaven.” The “dedication to heaven” was a way of saying, “These belong to God and you can’t take them!” Also important for this subject is the Mishnah reference to sycamore trees that reads, “A tree may not be grown within a distance of twenty-five cubits from the town, or fifty cubits if it is a carob or a sycamore-tree.” Danby explains that a tree was seen as a kind of tent and if any form of ceremonial uncleanness occurred under the tree, that uncleanness was automatically transferred to anyone under any section of the tree.’ Kenneth Bailey: Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (SPCK London 2008) p. 178

Cf. Babylonian Talmud Sabbat, 152a: a king and his servants enter a town by the same gate, but each is given hospitality “as benefits his honor.” ‘No guest selects his own host, nor does any guest (especially in a situation of oppression) invite himself in public into the house of a despised collaborator!’

Cf. Babylonian Talmud, Baba Qamma 94b:  Fiur shepherds, tax collectors and revenue farmers it is difficult to make repentance, yet they must make restitution to all those they know [they have robbed].’

What does Zacchaeus’s name mean?

“innocent” or “righteous,” but tax collectors did not become rich by being innocent. Zacchaeus will live up to his name in the story, but his comment “if I have defrauded anyone of anything” (v. 8) is something of a quasi-admission that he had, in fact, done just that.

 How does he keep Torah requirements?

Exodus 22:1 When someone steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.^* The thief shall make restitution, but if unable to do so, shall be sold for the theft.

 Is it Pharisees who grumble?

“all who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner” (v. 7). The grumblers are the “crowd” (“all who saw it”), not the usual grumblers in Luke—scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers—but the people. Why would they regard a rich chief tax collector as a sinner?  Zacchaeus is not a minor toll-collector or clerk who adds the sales tax to purchases. Zacchaeus is an architelönès, a big-time tax collector.

Penny Roker, in ‘At Home With God’ (Canterbury Press 2009) suggests that those who heard the parable would have a template of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys but that Jesus subverted this paradigm. “…., each generation finds its own way of assigning unofficial roles that disguise the real people beneath. Names like ‘hoodie’ or ‘yuppie’ become, in time, dictionary definitions. Gospel writers reflected the views of their own society by bracketing people together in the same way: scribes, Pharisees, tax collectors and Romans are clearly labelled ‘baddies’, in spite of some notable exceptions. The tax collector in first- century Palestine was doubly denigrated since he was presumed to be collaborating with the occupying Roman forces as well as fleecing his own people. Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, seemed unquestionably a ‘sinner’……, we see Jesus simply being himself. He remained free. His desire was to rehabilitate, to empower, to create and recreate life by embracing change and generating movement out of stasis. It is not that he was more clever than anyone else, just more transparent. Jesus is pure. He valued Zacchaeus without prejudice or any self-promoting agenda of his own. He did not see a ‘sinner’ in the tree, nor rejoice to catch someone out; he did not seize the opportunity to look smart, or make someone else look silly; he did not even capitalize on what could have been a useful moral teaching point. As far as Jesus was concerned, a little man up a tree wanted to be part of everyone else’s experience and he responded.

“‘Salvation has come to this house today’ is the statement attributed to Jesus as a tidy ending to the story, yet the reader is left unsure about who has saved who: after all, was Zacchaeus not the one who compensated the crowd and who took Jesus in? There is a satisfying sense of mutuality in this human encounter where everyone gained. Where did Jesus’ miracle begin? Not with an accusation, nor even an offer of forgiveness, but with an appeal for help.

“The first step to reconciliation, it seems, is to drop labels and to step out of set positions. The crowd labelled Zacchaeus ‘sinner’; Jesus rephrased it as ‘descendant of Abraham’. Luke called him ‘a little man’; Jesus looked up’ to him. Zacchaeus was marginalized by the crowd; Jesus made himself at home with his family.

Restorative justice schemes like The Sycamore Tree Project, named after this Gospel story, develop dialogue between offenders and their victims in which both sides learn to understand the other. The offender begins to see how crime feels for its victim; the victim sees a human being who may also be wounded. First, both sides need to ‘come down’ from their positions in order to talk and to listen. “

Jesus “continues to call us down from our lofty sense of self-righteousness or from the places we hide from uncomfortable truths. He challenges us to engage with people as they really are. Behind the labels we place on them, we may find that they are not all we assumed them to be. The confident fourfold promise of restitution, for example, suggests that Zacchaeus may not have cheated anyone. Perhaps the parable that follows this Gospel story was Jesus’ way of saying that it is social systems that create injustices rather than the individuals they co-opt. ”

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2 Thessalonians 1: 1-4, 11-12 Proper 26/Ordinary 31 C

The sufferings of 1:4 are the “evidence” (endeigm) of the “righteous judgment of God,” a notion in apocalyptic theology that God will call the evil to account and fully manifest the eschatological realm of God. The congregation’s endurance through suffering prepares them for the realm (1:5). God will repay with affliction (thlipsis, 1:4) those who afflict and will give relief (anesis) to those who have been afflicted in the present. Such themes permeate: the faithful are welcomed into the divine realm while the unfaithful are punished, sometimes by the means whereby they caused suffering (1 En. 1:3-9 Concerning the Chosen I spoke; and I uttered a parable concerning them: The Holy and Great One will come out of his dwelling. And the Eternal God will tread from there upon Mount Sinai, and he will

appear with his Host, and will appear in the strength of his power from Heaven. And all will be afraid, and the Watchers will shake, and fear and great trembling will seize them, up to the ends of the earth. And the high mountains will be shaken; and the high hills will be laid low and will melt like wax in a flame. And the earth will sink, and everything that is on the earth will be destroyed, and there will be judgment upon all, and upon all the righteous. But for the righteous: He will make peace, and He will keep safe the Chosen, and mercy will be upon them. They will all belong to God, and will prosper and be blessed, and the light of God will shine on them. And behold! He comes with ten thousand Holy Ones; to execute judgment upon them and to destroy the impious, and to contend with all flesh concerning everything that the sinners and the impious have done and wrought against Him; 38:1-6 When the congregation of the righteous shall appear, And sinners shall be judged for their sins, And shall be driven from the face of the earth:  And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous, Whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits, And light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth, Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners, And where the resting-place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for them if they had not been born. When the secrets of the righteous shall be revealed and the sinners judged, And the godless driven from the presence of the righteous and elect, From that time those that possess the earth shall no longer be powerful and exalted: And they shall not be able to behold the face of the holy, For the Lord of Spirits has caused His light to appear On the face of the holy, righteous, and elect. Then shall the kings and the mighty perish And be given into the hands of the righteous and holy. And thenceforward none shall seek for themselves mercy from the Lord of Spirits For their life is at an end; 2 Esd. 7:26-44 For behold, the time will come, when the signs which I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city which now is not seen shall appear, and the land which now is hidden shall be disclosed. And every one who has been delivered from the evils that I have foretold shall see my wonders. For my son the Messiah shall be revealed with those who are with him, and those who remain shall rejoice four hundred years. And after these years my son the Messiah shall die, and all who draw human breath. And the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as it was at the first beginnings; so that no one shall be left. And after seven days the world, which is not yet awake, shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish. And the earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who dwell silently in it; and the chambers shall give up the souls which have been committed to them. And the Most High shall be revealed upon the seat of judgment, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn; but only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong. And recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep. Then the pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight. Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, ‘Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised!  Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments!’ Thus he will speak to them on the day of judgment— a day that has no sun or moon or stars, or cloud or thunder or lightning or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning,  or summer or spring or heat or winter or frost or cold or hail or rain or dew, or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been determined for them. For it will last for about a week of years.  This is my judgment and its prescribed order; and to you alone have I shown these things.”; 2 Bar 82:1-83:23 Therefore, my brethren, I have written to you, that you may comfort yourselves regarding the multitude of your tribulations. For know you that our Maker will assuredly avenge us on all our enemies, according to all that they have done to us, also that the consummation which the Most High will make is very nigh, and His mercy that is coming, and the consummation of His judgment, is by no means far off. For lo! we see now the multitude of the prosperity of the Gentiles, Though they act impiously, But they shall be like a vapor: And we behold the multitude of their power, Though they do wickedly, But they shall be made like unto a drop: And we see the firmness of their might.  Though they resist the Mighty One every hour, But they shall be accounted as spittle. And we consider the glory of their greatness, Though they do not keep the statutes of the Most High, But as smoke shall they pass away. And we meditate on the beauty of their gracefulness, Though they have to do with pollutions, But as grass that withers shall they fade away. And we consider the strength of their cruelty, Though they remember not the end (thereof), But as a wave that passes shall they be broken. And we remark the boastfulness of their might, Though they deny the beneficence of God, who gave (it) to them, But they shall pass away as a passing cloud.         [For the Most High will assuredly hasten His times, And He will assuredly bring on His hours. And He will assuredly judge those who are in His world, And will visit in truth all things by means of all their hidden works.     And He will assuredly examine the secret thoughts, And that which is laid up in the secret chambers of all the members of mail. And will make (them) manifest in the presence of all with reproof. Let none therefore of these present things ascend into your hearts, but above all let us be expectant, because that which is promised to us shall come. And let us not now look unto the delights of the Gentiles in the present, but let us remember what has been promised to us in the end. For the ends of the times and of the seasons and whatsoever is with them shall assuredly pass by together. The consummation, moreover, of the age shall then show the great might of its ruler, when all things come to judgment. Do you therefore prepare your hearts for that which before you believed, lest you come to be in bondage in both worlds, so that you be led away captive here and be tormented there. For that which exists now or which has passed away, or which is to come, in all these things, neither is the evil fully evil, nor again the good fully good. For all healthinesses of this time are turning into diseases, And all might of this time is turning into weakness, And all the force of this time is turning into impotence, And every energy of youth is turning into old age and consummation. And every beauty of gracefulness of this time is turning faded and hateful, And every proud dominion of the present is turning into humiliation and shame, And every praise of the glory of this time is turning into the shame of silence, And every vain splendor and insolence of this time is turning into voiceless ruin. And every delight and joy of this time is turning to worms and corruption,  And every clamor of the pride of this time is turning into dust and stillness. And every possession of riches of this time is being turned into Sheol alone, And all the rapine of passion of this time is turning into involuntary death, And every passion of the lusts of this time is turning into a judgment of torment. And every artifice and craftiness of this time is turning into a proof of the truth, And every sweetness of unguents of this time is turning into judgment and condemnation, And every love of lying is turning to contumely through truth. [Since therefore all these things are done now, does anyone think that they will not be avenged? But the consummation of all things will come to the truth.]; Wis. 11:15-16 Their wickedness misled them into silly ideas, so that they worshiped snakes and other disgusting animals, creatures without any powers of reason. Because of this, you punished them with millions of such animals, 16 and taught them that punishment for sin takes the same form as the sin itself; Rom. 1:18-32).

This affliction and relief take place in connection with the apocalypse described in 1:7b-8a. This passage uses stock apocalyptic imagery to depict Jesus coming with an armada of angel warriors in flaming fire to inflict vengeance on unconverted Gentiles (“those who do not know God”) and those in the church who do not “obey our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:8). Fire is a traditional symbol of judgment (Isa. 66:15; Jer. 10:25; Mal. 3:19; 2 Esd. 14:23 And he answered me, saying, Go thy way, gather the people together, and say unto them, that they seek thee not for forty days; Sib. Or 3:80-90). The term “obey” (pekoe) signals that Jesus is a kind of rabbi who helps the Gentiles know and live according to the God of Israel.

According to 1:9, unregenerate Gentiles and the unfaithful from within the church will suffer the punishment of “eternal destruction” (oletheros aionios) and be “separated from the presence of the Lord and from [God’s] glory” (glory = the new world that God is bringing about). The earlier ref­erence to fire combined with the reference to eternal destruction suggests that the writer shares the view of some other apocalypticists that the wicked would burn in fire (2 Esd. 7:35-44 Only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong.  Recompense shall follow, and the reward shall be manifested; righteous deeds shall awake, and unrighteous deeds shall not sleep. The pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight. Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, ‘Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised.  Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments.’ Thus he will speak to them on the day of judgment—  a day that has no sun or moon or stars, or cloud or thunder or lightning, or wind or water or air, or darkness or evening or morning, or summer or spring or heat or winter or frost or cold, or hail or rain or dew, or noon or night, or dawn or shining or brightness or light, but only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, by which all shall see what has been destined. It will last as though for a week of years. This is my judgment and its prescribed order; and to you alone I have shown these things.”; 2 Bar 44:15 For to them shall be given the world to come, But the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire.’; 48:39   Therefore a fire shall consume their thoughts; 3 Bar 4:16 Know therefore, 0 Baruch, that as Adam through this very tree obtained condemnation, and was divested of the glory of God, so also the men who now drink insatiably the wine which is begotten of it, transgress worse than Adam, and are far from the 17 glory of God, and are surrendering themselves to the eternal fire.; Sib. Or 4:23; 4 Macc. 12:12 Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go.). This view was not universal in Jewish cir­cles. Some Jewish theologians envisioned fire as temporary and for the purpose of purgation (Mal. 3:2-4). Some others did not envision a final judgment, much less eternal punishment. On this matter as on so many others, Judaism in antiquity was pluralistic.

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Luke 18:9-14 Proper 25/Ordinary 30 C

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” ¹³But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

‘Luke’s readers too have little difficulty expecting to see “good tax collectors,” and so they find them. The audience has changed from Jews in the early first century to gentile Christians toward its end. Luke is not writing in Judea, under Roman occupation; Luke is writing somewhere in the Greek- speaking gentile world, where Roman patrons such as Theophilus, to whom the Gospel is dedicated, can help the Christian mission to grow. Luke and the members of his congregation can easily view the tax collector in the parable as “justified,” that is, in a right relationship with God. Moreover, they can also identify with the tax collector, He becomes the ideal Christian: he recognizes his sin, he humbly begs forgiveness, and grace is accorded him. How nice. Of course he, not the Pharisee, receives divine approbation.’

‘When the parable is heard with first-century Jewish ears, however, the response is by no means so simple. The very idea that a tax collector would receive approval over a Pharisee should, instead, shock, To see the tax collector as justified is tantamount to a member of the local population claiming that an agent of a foreign, invading government, an agent whose job is to take money from the local population and funnel it to the capital of the invading empire, is the one to be admired and to serve as a moral exemplar. Although a bit generous as an analogy, the Pharisee would be the equivalent of Mother Teresa or Billy Graham, The idea that either would not be in a right relationship with God is preposterous.’

‘Nevertheless, Christian readers usually presume Pharisaic evil, and the Gospel is complicit in setting up this conclusion.’

‘If we hear the parable through first-century Jewish ears—the ears that would have been listening to Jesus himself—a much different picture develops than the negative one Luke conveys. First, the Pharisee need not be seen as hypocritical or arrogant. The Pharisee’s prayer begins with “I thank” (the Greek term is eucharisto, whence the English term “Eucharist”), and the idea of thanking God is a major component of Jewish prayers. The Pharisee’s prayer, “on its own terms, shows no more arrogance on his part than anyone who has prayed or thought, ‘There but for the grace of God, go I“  The negative view of the Pharisee comes from Luke’s narrative, not from Jesus’s original context.’
‘And because of that context, the parable works. It traps listeners brilliantly. As soon as one makes the determination that the tax collector is justified, the thought results: “Thank heaven I am not like that Pharisee over there.” How absurd to think: “Thank heaven I am not like Mother Teresa; thank heaven I am not like Billy Graham.” Even if one finds the Pharisee sanctimonious, the parable still works, because the identification with the tax collector results in the reaction, “Thank heaven I am not sanctimonious, like that Pharisee.” The irony is delicious.’
‘And the good news of the parable continues, By forcing readers to see something positive about the tax collector, it insists that even those who work for the enemy may still be part of the congregation, that even those who exploit members of their own community deserve consideration; perhaps they, like Zacchaeus, are doing the best they can while trapped in an impossible situation. In other words, the parable forces hearers to walk in the shoes of the criminal or the ostracized. At the same time, it requires listeners to assess acts of piety and the value placed on them in any religious setting. This Pharisee, who tithes, who fasts, who prays without asking anything for himself, is exactly the sort of congregant clergy adore. The parable then raises the question of who has honor in the congregation, who is the better role model, who is without sin, and who is without sanctity.’
‘The ending of the parable may provide two additional shocks, First. most translations read Luke 18:I4a as saying, “This man [the tax collector] went down to his home justified rather than the other.” But neither the Greek nor the context of the line demands this exclusivist conclusion. It is possible that the Pharisee also is justified. As Robert Doran states, as far as I can see, the only factor in the context that has led interpreters to choose such an exclusive meaning is that one does not want to say that a Pharisee is upright/justified (dedikaiomenov).”  The line need not be read went down to his home justified rather than the other,” but “went down to his home more justified than the other:’ in this case, the ancient audience is shocked that the tax collector has the greater recognition; today’s audience is shocked that the Pharisee has any recognition at all.’
‘Finally, perhaps the ending is even more surprising, for the tax collector’s very justification may be dependent on the Pharisee. This Pharisee tithes more than he is required to do, he fasts more than he is expected to do, and this righteousness is not in dispute. Such actions can have vicarious effects—perhaps the Pharisee’s righteousness actions are precisely what allow the tax collector to be put in a right relationship with God. As Timothy Friedrichsen suggests, the reaction from Jesus’s Jewish audience would have been “shock, dismay, even anger” at the very idea that the Pharisee’s righteous behavior and attitude “may benefit, of all people, their nemesis, a tax collector.” By modern analogy, the righteousness shown by the greatest saint in the church works for the redemption of the greatest sinner.’
‘The parable thus continues to provoke, to challenge, to disturb, It is very Jesus, and very Jewish.’ The Misunderstood Jew – A. Levine New York (HarperOne 2006) pp. 38-41
What sort of stereotype of a pharisee does this parable give?

self-righteous, scornful

 Is it a fair stereotype?

Rabbi Gamaliel said, “Do not walk out on the community. And do not have confidence in yourself until the day you die. And do not judge your companion until you are in his place” (m. Avot 2:4).

Rabbi Simeon said, “And when you pray, don’t treat your praying as a matter of routine; but let it be a plea for mercy and supplication before the Omnipresent, the blessed, as it is said, For he is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and full of mercy, and repents of the evil” (m. Avot 2:13).

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa said, “For anyone whose fear of sin takes precedence over his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. And for anyone whose wisdom takes precedence over his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure” ,(m. Avot 3:9, Neusner, Torah from Our Sages).

The Rabbis of Javneh who were contemporary with the Gospels said, “I am a creature of God and my neighbor is also his creature; my work is in the city and his is in the field; I rise early to my work and he rises early to his. As he cannot excel in my work, so I cannot excel in his work. But perhaps you say, I do great things and he does small things. We have learned that it matters not whether a man does much or little, if only he directs his heart to heaven” (b. Berakhot 1 7a).

The Rabbis joked about overly pious Pharisees who walked mincingly to show their piety and bled from the forehead from bumping into obstacles because they walked with their eyes closed to avoid temptation, bent- over Pharisees demonstrating their humility; and the boringly dutiful Pharisees who always did the right thing (b. Sotab 20ff.). Jewish humor, influenced by the prophetic tradition, is at their own expense. We should develop some Christian humor that is at our expense, tell jokes on ourselves. It would help keep us humble

‘I rather like the Pharisees. They loved detail and precision. They wanted to get everything just right. I like that. They loved God, they thought that he had blessed them, and they thought that he wanted them to get everything just right. I do not doubt that some of them were priggish. This is a common fault of the pious, one that is amply demonstrated in modern criticism of the Pharisees. The Pharisees, we know, intended to be humble before God, and they thought that intention mattered more than outward show. These are worthy ideals.’ Ed Sanders Judaism: Practice and Belief 63BCE—66CE (London SCM Press 1992) p. 494

‘In New Testament times the standard laid down by the rabbis was, “A general rule have they laid down about Tithes: whatsoever is used for food and watch over and grows from the soil is liable to Tithes.” The Mishnah tractate Ma’aserot (tithes) spells out all the possible exceptions that make such a blanket ruling easier to fulfil. The discussion continues for pages. But this Pharisee no exceptions, claiming simply “I tithe all that I possess.” Surely those listening to his “ad” would be impressed by such a high standard of righteousness.’ Kenneth Bailey: Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (SPCK London 2008) p. 348

Bailey sees an unusual parallel with Isaiah 66:1-6

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me, and what is my resting-place?
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,  to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word.

Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being; whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain-offering, like one who offers swine’s blood; whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and in their abominations they take delight; I also will choose to mock them, and bring upon them what they fear; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my sight, and chose what did not please me.

Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: Your own people who hate you and reject you for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, so that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame. Listen, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the Lord, dealing retribution to his enemies!

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