Monday, July 04, 2005

Proper 9, Monday: The Death of Jesus pt. 2

Today's Readings:
Samuel is very difficult. The message of God to Saul here is: commit Genocide. Total Genocide, kill the men, women, and children, and destroy their crops and animals and houses. Erase them from existence. The Amalekites fought Israel, and for that God wants them to die. Hmmm....In other cases when God wanted to punish a group of people--Sodom and Gamorrah come to mind--He did it himself. Sauls actions may not have come from God, then, but Saul used God to justify his own hatred and desire for warfare. The Israelites wanted a King, and Samuel told them how bad Kings are, and gave them one anyway. It's almost like Samuel chose someone unfit to be King to teach the Isrealites that absolute monarchs are dangerous things, the exception being God. Anyway, Saul attacks, wins, but spares Agag, the Amalekite King, and the best animals for a sacrifice to God. Saul may have learned a lesson here, but God was still displeased that Saul didn't follow God's instructions to the letter. Samuel asks him, "which is better, Sacrifices or Obedience?" Saul is rejected as King.
In Acts, Saul1 preaches about Jesus in Damascus, confusing his audience. There is a plot to kill him for switching sides, and he escapes to Jerusalem where the apostles won't see him. His reputation precedes him. Barnabas takes him into the apostles, and Saul convinces them of his transformation. Saul argues with the Hellenists, and is sent to Tarsus for undisclosed reasons. Argues with Hellenists? I've been reading a few books about early Christianity and I think there is something about Hellenists, or at least the Hellenization of Christianity as an historical theory. I'll have to put that on my list of things to explore.
Finally, in Luke, darkness covers the land. The curtain in the Temple is torn in two (by whom, I wonder). Jesus says "Into your hands I commend my spirit" which is a quote from the 31st Psalm, which is all about trust. Jesus dies. A centurion states "Surely this man was innocent" or "righteous". Joseph of Arimathea asks for the body of Jesus and puts it in an unused tomb. The women prepare spices and ointments, then rest on the Sabbath.
I don't know much about Judaic buriel customs, but I understood that the idea of Jewish bodies left nailed to a cross on the sabbath (and the Passover) was particularly disturbing. Luke doesn't mention what happens to the other Jewish bodies that have been executed, but presumably they are also taken down if they are already dead.
There is a lot of symbolism here. Jesus' last words are all about faith and trust. The centurions reaction has two translations in my Bible, either innocent (which He was) or righteous (which He was), and it probably stems from whether or not the centurion was speaking as a soldier who understood the criminal justice system and saw Jesus' reactions as very different from the guilty, or he was a believer in God as the Jews saw God, and not as the Romans did. The curtain being torn in two only makes sense to me historically. The Jews at the time believed (as I understand) that God lived in a small smoke filled room in the temple and only the very select could enter that room. The tearing is easily understood as God's grief, and less easily understood as God saying "Let me out of here! How many prophets do you people need before you get the message?"

1You'd think the folks who set up the office would prevent two readings about two different people with the same name showing up on the same day. This has been going on for a couple of weeks and it's almost confusing. Thankfully Saul will become Paul and things will become clearer.

posted by Josh English @ 3:21 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home