Additional Lectionary Note for Proper 6 of Year A

Thinking further on the notes for tomorrow's readings, I thought it might be of interest and profit to provide a further note on the Lord Jesus' teaching about making peace before offering our gifts. A paricular interest comes because the Exchange of the Peace in the Eucharist is made where it is, after the confession and before the Offertory just to obey this teaching.

A Note from

Charles Gore's THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (1896)

on
Matthew 5.23-26

[Jesus] adds a sort of parenthesis dealing with the duty of hastening to remove any uncharitable relation in which we may stand towards others.

The text of Matthew 5.23-26 follows here.

Our Lord is speaking to Jews who were accustomed to bring their offerings into the temple. He says that if one of them, while engaged in this religious observance, should remember that his brother has aught against him, he is to leave his gift before the altar and to go away hastily, as a man who is leaving an unfinished work, and be reconciled; and then come back and offer his gift. It is to be done quickly. This is emphasized in a second metaphor. In case of a debt you would have to act quickly, or the law would be in train and extreme consequences would follow. So in moral offences go quickly and satisfy ; purge your conscience and get free ; suffer no delay; otherwise the moral consequences will be in train, and the issue inevitable, and the final result follow.
He speaks to Jews, but he also speaks to Christians. It is the law of the new kingdom. We have an altar. We have to offer up spiritual sacrifices, the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Thus in the course of the first century Jewish Christians apparently applied this saying of our Lord to the Holy Communion. In The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles [Didache 14,2] you find: 'Let no man who has a dispute with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled [the word in St. Matt. v. 24], that your sacrifice be not defiled.' Surely we need to lay to heart this teaching, that we are to make haste to get rid of whatever hinders our approach to God. We Englishmen are so apt to pride ourselves on not being hypocrites. It was once said to me, and the saying has always remained in my mind, that the great need in our day is to preach against the Pharisaism of the publican! How many say, 'I don't come to the sacrament : a man who has to knock about and make his way in the world must do things and put up with things which if one comes to the sacrament one is supposed to repent of. And if I do not profess to be impossibly strict, at least I am not a hypocrite’. So he goes off. 'Lord, I thank thee that I am not one of these hypocrites: I make no religious professions, thank God! 'Now this is what I call the Pharisaism of the publican. Pharisaism is being satisfied with ourselves. And the Pharisaism of the man who makes no religious professions is at least as bad as the Pharisaism of the man who abounds in them. Our Lord does not bid us abstain from coming to the altar if we are not fit, but He says, See to it that you make yourselves fit; and that too in a hurry. 'Leave there thy gift before the altar', but you cannot leave it long. It will be in the way there. There is an unfinished work which you are engaged in. Make haste to come back and finish it. If among my readers are some who belong to the Church and are not communicants, and are satisfied because they are not hypocrites, I would say to them do not be satisfied: begin to approach the altar: commit yourself to it, by telling your wife or husband, or friend or parish priest, that you hope to receive the Communion, and when ; and then go your ways quickly and remove the moral obstacles which hinder your doing so; otherwise the moral train will be set in motion, and the great and inevitable issue come before you know it.
There is one other point which I will ask you to notice our Lord's use in this passage of the word 'brother'. In the Bible the term 'brother' is confined to those who belong to the covenant; in the old law to the Jews, in the new law to the Christians. Our Lord then is here dealing with the relation of Christian to Christian, who have realized their brotherhood in the common fatherhood of God. All men are meant for brotherhood, but our Lord is speaking here to those who are brothers in fact.

Lectionary Notes

SOME NOTES FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
Proper 6 in Year A
Sunday 13 February 2011

The Sentence and Collect do not require any comment.

Readings

The RCL offers a choice of first readings, Deuteronomy 30.15–20 or Sirach 15.15-20; the point of the readings seems the same. This year we are reading the passage from Sirach, and offer no notes on Deuteronomy.

First Reading: Sirach 15.15–20

The full name of this book is The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach; it is also known as Ecclesiasticus, which probably means ‘church book’, an indication that it was used by the early Christian community. You may not find it in your Bible because it is one of a number of books known as ‘Apocrypha’. Since some people are not familiar with these books, and some are unclear about the meaning of ‘apocrypha’, here is a note on these matters:

EXCURSUS: THE APOCRYPHAL OR DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS

In some editions of the Bible, there is a section between the Old and New Testaments, or following the New, containing a number of books which are commonly called the Apocrypha. In Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Bibles many of these books are found as part of the Old Testament and are referred to as ‘deuterocanonical’ (of a second canon). The books which were included in the Latin Vulgate, as listed in Article VI, are
The Third Book of Esdras [I Esdras],

The Fourth Book of Esdras [II Esdras],
The Book of Tobias [Tobit],

The Book of Judith,
The rest of the Book of Esther,

The Book of Wisdom [Wisdom of Solomon],
Jesus the Son of Sirach [or Ecclesiasticus],

Baruch the Prophet,
The Song of the Three Children,

The Story of Susanna,
Of Bel and the Dragon,

The Prayer of Manasses,
The First Book of Maccabees,

The Second Book of Maccabees.
Modern Bibles also include certain other books from the Greek Old Testament and included in the Bibles of Eastern Orthodox Churches, but not in the Latin Vulgate, to wit:
The Third Book of Maccabees,

The Fourth Book of Maccabees,
Psalm 151
The word Apocrypha literally means ‘things that are hidden’, but it is not clear why it was used to describe these books. It could mean that they are only for an inner group, or that they are not good enough to be read, or simply that they are not in the canon, that is, the accepted list of books counted as scripture. In practice it refers to the fact that these books were included in the ancient Greek Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the Septuagint but not in the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures as settled about AD 100. We do not have the space here to discuss the history of the canon of Scripture or the disagreements over the status of these books that have arisen throughout the Church’s history. A good introduction to these matters may be found in the New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
What we must note is that the Protestant Reformers questioned whether the Apocrypha were inspired, or were merely human literature. While many rejected them outright, a more conservative policy was to include them in a special section. In Article VI of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion the Church of England says that the Church reads them “for example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.” The lectionaries for the Eucharist and daily Morning and Evening Prayer include readings from the deuterocanonical books. We may wonder, then, why most editions of the Bible leave out these books. The answer is clearly given in The History of the Bible in English by Frederick Fyvie Bruce (New York : Oxford University Press, 1978), pp 110-111.

Note : A.V. stands for "authorized version", the translation of 1611 commonly called the 'King James'.

“Like its predecessors, the A.V. included a translation of the Apocrypha. Four years later Archbishop Abbot forbade anyone to issue the Bible without the Apocrypha, on pain on one year’s imprisonment. The Church of England, in accordance with Article VI, reads the books of the Apocrypha “For example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.” The Puritan party, however, and those who took their guidance from Geneva rather than from Canterbury, disapproved of the inclusion of the Apocrypha in the Bible at all. Some copies of the Geneva Bible published at Geneva in 1599 omitted the Apocrypha, but this omission was the binder’s work; there is a gap in the page-numbvering between the Testaments. An Amsterdam edition of the Geneva Bible, publisherd in 1640, omitted the Apocrypha as a matter of policy, and inserted a defence of this policy between the Testaments. In 1644 the Long Parliament, in which Puritan views were very influential, decreed that only the canonical books of the Old Testament should be read in church, and three years later the Westminster Confession of Faith declared that ‘the books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are not part of the canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, not to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than any other human writings.’
“This policy prevailed in the Church of Scotland, but was reversed in the Church of England after the Restoration. The Nonconformists, however, continued for the most part to disregard the Apocrypha except for the historical value of the books. It is not without significance that he first English Bible printed in America (1782-3) omitted the Apocrypha. The fashion of printing the A.V. without the Apocrypha was reinforced by the example of the British and Foreign Bible Society (founded in 1804), which in 1826 adopted the policy of omitting the Apocrypha from its editions. It is said that, when this Society offered to provide the copy of the Bible to be presented to King Edward VII at his coronation in 1902, the offer was declined by Archbishop Frederick Temple on the ground that a ‘mutilated Bible’ was unacceptable.”
It is the clear teaching of our Church that the books called Apocrypha are to be read in Church and included in the Bible, and we ought gladly to follow this rather than some publisher’s whim. It is good to see, therefore, that the NRSV is readily available with the books called Apocrypha included, so that we can more easily obtain a Bible that is not ‘mutilated’. If you go to the ABC rather than a secular bookstore to purchase a Bible you can be sure of this.

In Sirach 50:27 the author identifies himself as Jesus son of Eleazar son of Sirach of Jerusalem, a scholar of the Law of God, who wrote this book in about 180 BC. The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua. The Prologue to the book explains that his grandson translated the book into Greek; this was soon after 132 BC. Some fragments of a Hebrew text of Sirach have been discovered. The NOAB introduction notes:
‘Sirach is a significant link in the history of the development of ancient Jewish thought. It is the last great example of the type of wisdom literature represented in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and the first specimen of that form of Judaism which subsequently developed into the rabbinical schools of the Pharisees and the Sadducees’
Sirach 15.11-20 is described by the NJBC as ‘one of the clearest statements in the Bible on freedom of the will. It teaches that each individual has the radical freedom to choose life by obeying the law of God or death by refusing to obey. Other passages in the Bible make it clear that this is not the whole story, and indeed that whole we are responsible and can choose the good, our condition is so weakened by sin that it is impossible to do all the good we choose (see Romans 3.23; 7.13-25). In short the real choice is between faith and unbelief and our freedom to choose does not mean that we do not require God’s grace.
A further complication to our freedom to choose to keep God’s law comes in the Sermon on the Mount, where the law is reinterpreted in such a way that it cannot be kept in a superficial or punctilious manner.
15-17: The two choices are also mentioned in Deuteronomy 30:15-19. [NJBC] See Deut 30.19: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed.
18-19: NJBC notes “It is a lie to say that because God is omniscient he causes sin”. God’s knowledge does not determine future events. God is eternal. ‘Eternity,’ as Boethius wrote, ‘is the possession of endless life whole and perfect at a single moment’. God, eternally ‘now’ knows every human action as present; his knowledge no more makes them necessary than your knowledge of a present act makes it necessary. (See Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, Book V, chapter VI)
It is not clear to me why only vv. 15-20 are read, when the whole of 11-10 is so clearly a unit. 11-12 declare that God can in no way be held responsible for human sin. Compare James 1.13 [No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one] and Wisdom 11.24. This was a very important point in the debates over Predestination that have exercised theologians, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Psalm 119.1–8

Psalm 119 is an alphabetical acrostic: it is made up of twenty-two stanzas consisting of eight lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter. Almost every line contains the word ‘law’ or a synonym (ways, commandments, statutes, judgements). The predominant mood is one of lament, suggesting that it was meant to be prayer for deliverance from some trouble; it may however be a formal literary exercise in praise of the law of God. This part is a prayer for help in observing the law which is an admirable meditation on the first reading.
In verse 2 those who seek God with their whole heart are praised: see also vv 19, 34, 58, 69, 145. It is the commandment of Deuteronomy 6.4 to love God with one’s ‘whole heart’.

The Epistle 1 Corinthians 3.1–9

This passage continues from the point last week’s ended. According to the NOAB, ‘Paul has apparently been criticized at Corinth for preaching too simple a gospel. He explains that, though he has wisdom to impart (2.6), he could it impart it only to the spiritually mature; and the Corinthians did not qualify. They still do not: their party spirit shows ‘that they have not grasped the nature of authentic community’ [NJBC].
1. And so … I; literally ‘And I (kai ego) and so translated in the AV; RSV has ‘but I’, it is not clear to me why the NJBC adds ‘so’. People of the flesh: where in 2.14 Paul spoke of the ‘unspiritual’ here we have the ‘fleshly’. NJBC says that the ‘fleshly’ are those still dominated by the standards of a fallen world. If in the earlier passage he was using the terminology of a faction in Corinth who looked down on some as ‘unspiritual’ (‘soul-people’, psychicoi), perhaps he is taking them down a peg by calling them ‘flesh-people’ (sarkikoi).
3. Behaving according to human inclinations: literally, ‘walking according to man’ (kata anthropon); that is according to human understanding and estimation, as opposed to ‘according to God’ (kata theon; see 2 Corinthians 7.9-10). ‘By accepting envy and strife as normal they betray their acceptance of the common judgement of what is possible for humanity’.
4. are you not merely human? Their party slogans show that they are just ordinary people and not the spiritual and enlightened leaders they claim to be.
NJBC entitles the section 3.5-4.5 as The Right Attitude towards Pastors.
5. What then is …. ‘Who’ might be expected, but Paul uses the neuter deliberately here and in v. 7 to stress that these leaders are instruments. The question seems to demand the answer “Nothing”, but their ministry is part of God’s plan: they are servants through whom you came to believe. Faith is a divine gift, but it comes through human instruments.
6. I planted, Apollos watered: Paul was first to preach the Gospel in Corinth; Apollos later taught; they were ‘related as evangelist and catechist’. 7. God does not need these human instruments but in his wisdom chose to use them [NJBC]. 8. Since all have a common purpose, they are the same, why set them against each other? Each will receive wages: Paul acknowledges the reality of the ministers’ contribution.
9. God’s field, God’s building: NJBC notes that these images are commionly associated; in stony Palestine, clearing fields were used to build walls. It refers to Jeremiah 1.10: ‘to build and to plant’. The theme of God’s building takes over the discussion in the rest of Chapter 3.

The Gospel: Matthew 5.21–37

This section of the Sermon on the Mount continues the thoughts begun in 5.17-20, which Charles Gore called ‘The Revision of the Old Law’ and in particular the second part, concerning the new which supersedes the old (20-48).
It is probably about time to remind you of the ‘Clippings’ on the Gospel passage at the RCL Commentary site and provide the link: http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/apr06l.shtml. I think some of the notes there are particularly worth checking.
Rather than repeating the same points here, I will repeat a general comment on the whole from Gore’s book on the Sermon on the Mount:
‘There are two points to which I would call attention, which apply to all these modifications or deepenings of the old law.
‘First, notice the authority of the teacher. 'It was said to them of old time’—that is, by God Himself in the Mosaic Law—Thou shalt not do this or that; ' but I say unto you’. Now this is a new tone, and it has only one legitimate explanation. All the prophets had said 'Thus saith the Lord': they had spoken the word of another. Jesus says ‘I say unto you’ thus giving one of many indications that He who spoke was different in kind from all other speakers upon earth ; that He was the fount of the moral law, and could speak as the one supreme legislator with the voice, with the authority, of God Himself.
“Secondly, notice that when our Lord deals with the different commandments, He deals with them on principles which in each case would apply to all the others. You could take the distinctive principle which emerges in His dealing with the law of murder or of adultery, and apply it to the case of all the other commandments. This is only one instance which goes to prove that our Lord does not mean to save us trouble. He teaches in a way which leaves us a great deal to do for ourselves, and requires of us a great deal of moral thoughtfulness.”
The Lord teaches about the laws against Murder (21-26); Adultery (27-31) Oaths (32-37); notice that there are what we might call subsidiary teachings in each section. Thus in condemning anger and malice he adds a teaching of haste in removing any uncharitable relation in which one may stand towards others (24-26).
In each case the Lord moves from the outward act forbidden under the law, such as murder and, far from abolishing the law, applies the ban to the underlying cause of the act. Thus anger is raised to the same level as the act of murder which flows from it, lustful thoughts to the level of adultery, and so on.
Gore: … ‘Our Lord raises the whole standard of guilt. He takes no account of sins of act at all. In the citizens of His new kingdom, sins of act are, as it were, out of the question. The way He deals with the law—specifically the law of murder, but in principle all the laws—is, if we may paraphrase His words, this : Under the new law you are to think of malicious anger, of anger and malice entertained in your hearts, as under the old law men were accustomed to think of ordinary homicide.’
Unfortunately, we were somewhat distracted over the past two days by the news from Egypt and have run out of space and time!

EXTRA NOTE: After I published this post I began to look at the readings for next Sunday. It struck me almost at once that it is worth reading both this and next Sunday's Gospels with the first reading for next Sunday, Leviticus 19.1-2, 9-10. More on this nexty week.

Calendar

13 SUNDAY: THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
14 Monday: Memorial of Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869, 885
In the older Calendar this was the commemoration of Valentine, Martyr. No more need be said
15 Tuesday: Memorial of Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, Founder of SPG and SPCK, 1730
16 Wednesday: Feria
17 Thursday: Feria
18 Friday: Feria
19 Saturday: Feria
20 SUNDAY: THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
There is only one Eucharist at St Columba and All Hallows this Sunday, at 10 am, followed by the Annual Meeting of Vestry

lectionary notes

Some Notes for Proper 5 in Year A
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
6 February AD 2011

The First Reading : Isaiah 58.1-9a, (9b-12)

The Lord does not desire fasting, but kindness and justice. In the past few centuries, scholars have suggested that the latter part of the Book of Isaiah (Chapters 40-66) contains writings from during and after the Exile in Babylon, and perhaps even a third set of writings from after the return to Jerusalem. These are referred to as Deutero- (that is, second) Isaiah, Chapters 40-55, and Trito- (third) Isaiah (56-66). More about this and suggestions for further reading may be found at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Isaiah.

This passage speaks of fasting, but its implications are wider: it encompasses the whole of the people’s attitude towards God. Fasting was an ancient insititution in Israel; it was a sign of the people’s grief at times of bereavement (see 2 Sam 1.12, 3.35) and national tragedy ((Joshua 7.6, Judges 20.26). During the exile in Babylon and after the return, the number of fast days increased (Zechariah 7.1-5, 8.18-19, Joel). During the exile in Babylon and after the return, the number of fast days increased (Zechariah 7.1-5, 8.18-19, Joel). Eventually one great day of fasting was established on the day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Beginning with fasting, the prophet speaks of the whole religious system, which is superficial. This is the theme of true religion from last weeks’s reading from Micah 6.6-8. The passage begins as a true prophetic judgement, but it does not conclude with a verdict of guilt; rather there is an announcement of salvation vv. 8-12)
1. The summons. The trumpet was used to proclaim a fast (Joel 2:15 and Ezekiel 33:3). The sound of the trumpet was also associated with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19)
2-4a. The indictment. Note the contrast between ther people’s desire to know God and his ways (‘delight’, v. 2) and the Lord’s desire for compassion towards the poor.
3. Why humble ourselves?, literally, ‘we have afflicted our soul’. In the Hebrew there is a play on words: the people ‘afflict’ themselves through fasting but they neglect the poor (‘afflicted’) (verse 7). You serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers: let it never be thought that social justice is some strange idea brought into religion in modern times!
5. This is not the fast I choose. sackcloth was worn by mourners (Ezekiel 7.18), by prisoners (3.24) and by prophets (20.2).
6-9b: It is one’s relationship with others that reveals one’s relationship to God. See Luke 10.25-37.
7. to share your bread … bring the homeless poor into your house … the naked, to cover them: compare the parable of the judgement in Matthew 25:31-46.
8-14: The announcement of salvation.
8. your light. see Isaiah 42:6-7, and obviously today's Gospel reading. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard: The Hebrew word, which seems to mean ‘gather’ has a range of senses: The Judaica Press translation has the glory of the Lord shall gather you in, while the Complete Jewish Bible has and ADONAI's glory will follow you. The ancient Greek version has and the glory of God shall compass thee ; the Vulgate gather thee. Wyclyf had gather thee; the Douai-Rheims version has: and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Both Geneva and the Bishops’ Bible had and the glory of the Lord shall embrace thee. Something called the God’s Word Translation has the glory of the LORD will guard you from behind. See Isa 52:12.
9. The pointing of the finger: see Proverbs 6:12-15
12. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt: the temple and walls of Jerusalem have apparently not been restored.
Although this passage contrasts with the external and ritual fasting a true fast of compassion and active aid to the afflicted, this does not mean that fasting in the literal sense is wrong. The simple fact that Yom Kippur is still a fast day proves this, as does the fact that our Lord’s teaching on fasting (Matthew 6.16-18) begins with the assumption that his followers will fast. But literal fasting is a tool, not an end in itself.

Psalm 112.1-9(10)
Beatus vir

This is an acrostic poem; each half verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. We might show this, as the ancient Latin version does by printing the names of the letters, thus:

ALEPH Happy are they who fear the Lord BETH and have great delight in his commandments!
GIMEL Their descendants will be mighty in the land; DALETH the generation of the upright will be blessed.

And so on.
This psalm is strikingly similar to Psalm 111. It is quite straightforward and needs no particular comments here except for one point of translation. In verse 9, our version has, They will hold up their head: this is literally their horn will be exalted, the horn is often used in the Old Testament as a symbol of strength and power, an image taken from bulls and such animals.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 2.1-12 (13-16)

1-5: The cross as central to Christian life and faith. The first five verses of the passage conclude the section begun last week.
1. Paul develops what he wrote in 1.17: For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. Despite this, the Church was to find that it had to speak to the world, and turned both rhetoric and philosophy to the service of the cross. Nonetheless, this passage reminds us of our purpose, which is to proclaim Christ, the word of the cross which to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1.18). The testimony of God is Christ, whom Paul refused to adorn with rhetorical devices or clever arguments.
2. I decided to know nothing …. Paul focussed all his attention on the crucified Christ, who was not the kind of Saviour expected either by Jews or Greeks (1.220-24).
3. in weakness and in much fear and trembling: There were many itinerant philosophers in those days, wandering teachers who made a living and sometimes took advantage of the credulity of the simple. Today they would be on television or talk radio. They would persuade people of their opinions by clever arguments and the art of rhetoric. Paul declares that when he came to Corinth he was entirely unlike these self-assured and clever teachers.
4. the Spirit and of power: a figure of speech meaning the power of the spirit. This is the only explanation of the conviction that gripped the Corinthians when Paul spoke.
5. not in human wisdom: a faith that is based on human wisdom is liable to be challenged by more persuasive arguments; but in the power of God: that is, in God as active in history, and not just in a concept.
6. the mature, is ironic; see 3.1. Among believers there is no special knowledge reserved to a few chosen souls. The wisdom of God and the power of God is the word of the cross, which is for all. of the rulers of this age: there are three interpretations of this expression: they are human rulers, they are demonic powers, or they are human rulers used by demonic powers. See Ephesians 1:20-21; 3:10; 6:12, which speak of supernatural spiritual agents, and Acts 4.25-28, which refers to human rulers. The NJBC thinks that it most likely refers here to human rulers.
7. The only true wisdom is God`s plan of salvation in Christ crucified.
8. Had the rulers known that God`s plan of salvation would be achieved through the suffering and death of Jesus, they would have tried to frustrate it by letting him live.
9. As it is written: unusually for Paul, this does not introduce a quotation from the scriptures. So NJBC, but another suggestion is that he could be quoting from memory (see Isaiah 64.4 and Psalm 31:19).
14. The unspiritual man: literally, the ‘psychic’ man, as opposed to the spiritual man (15), but not 'physical' as I believe it is translated in another place. The Greek words here are from ‘psyche’, or soul, and ‘pneuma’, or spirit. It may help to know that the Latin translation of ‘psychic’ is ‘animal’ which is of course from anima. But then again it may not. Some of the Corinthians seem to have thought themselves to possess a ‘wisdom’ which made them mature or perfect and gave them the right to look down on others as children. NJBC says that here: Paul turns the Corinthians’ own distinction against them. If the ‘spirit-people’ do not understand him, it is they who are the ‘soul-people’.

The Holy Gospel according to St Matthew 5.13-20
13-16: The Salt and Light of the World

‘How is a character such as the beatitudes describe, planted in a world such as this is, to effect good ? It is to purify by its own distinctive savour, it is to be conspicuous by its own splendid truth to its ideal, it is to arrest attention by its powerful contrast to the world. about it. This is the meaning of the metaphors which follow the beatitudes’ [Bishop Gore].
13. Salt has a great importance in human life: it adds flavour to otherwise lifeless food, and brings out flavours that might be hidden; for this reason it metaphorically adds wit to thought and conversation; it is a preservative; it is a cleaner. It was also used in sacrifice under the law of Moses: see Lev 2.23. if the salt shall become tasteless, in what will it be salted? Bishop Gore writes: “The savour of a Christianity which does not mean what it says, wherewith can it be salted? How can it recover its position and influence? Would it not be better never to have been Christians at all than to be Christians who do not mean what they say ? What is so useless as a hollow profession of religion? ' It is thenceforth 'good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.' 'I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.’ Christians exist in order to make the contrast of their own lives apparent to the world.” The RCL Commentary notes that salt ‘does not really lose its taste, but in Judaism it can become ritually unclean and need to be “thrown out”. (It was used to season incense and offerings to God.) Jesus may also be thinking of the salt deposits around the Dead Sea: when heavily rained upon, they still look like salt but no longer are. A follower who loses his faith is useless, and will be discarded.’
On salt, this comment of St Remigius is worth noting: ‘Moreover, salt is changed into another kind of substance by three means, water, the heat of the sun, and the breath of the wind. Thus Apostolic men also were changed into spiritual regeneration by the water of baptism, the heat of love, and the breath of the Holy Spirit. That heavenly wisdom also, which the Apostles preached, dries up the humours of carnal works, removes the foulness amid putrefaction of evil conversation, kills the work of lustful thoughts, and also that worm of which it is said their worm dies not. … The Apostles are the salt of the earth, that is, of worldly men who are called the earth, because they love this earth.’
14. You are the Light of the World. Compare John 8.12, the Gospel sentence for today. Bishop Gore noted that ‘Light is that which burns distinctively in the darkness’. On the lamp on shining on the lampstand compare the parable of the lost coin, in which the woman lights a candle whereby she can see to sweep and look for the coin.
And glorify your Father, who is in heaven. This is the earliest use of the expression ‘Our Father in heaven’; Matt. vi. 9. The relation of the righteous to God is shown by works, Matt. v. 48 ; i John iii. 3-9. 1 Pet. 2. 12, seems to refer to this saying.

17-19: The Revision of the Old Law: 1) The Continuity

Bishop Gore writes: Our Lord explains that the new law stands in a double relation to the old. First, it is in direct continuity with what had gone before (w. 17-19); and. secondly (vv. 20-48), it supersedes it, as the complete supersedes the incomplete.
17. Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. Bishop Gore: ‘The character of the citizens of the new kingdom as described by our Lord was so surprising, so paradoxical, that it was inevitable the question should arise, Was He a revolutionary who had come to upset and destroy all the old law was this a revolutionary movement in the moral and religious world? To this question, then, our Lord directly addressed Himself. The rest of the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount—St. Matthew v. 17 to the end—is simply a statement of the relation in which this new righteousness, this righteousness of the new kingdom, stands to the old righteousness of the Mosaic Law.’ The law and the prophets are the first two great sections of the Jewish canon [Law, Prophets and Writings ] are mentioned, but the whole may be intended, Luke xxiv. 44. To fulfill: to ‘bring to completion’ or ‘make perfect’.
18. verily, in Aramaic amen. not one letter, not one stroke of a letter; literally, not one iota or one horn. Iota was Yod, the smallest Hebrew letter; keraia, horn, referred to the point or serif of a letter. The NRSV version has nothing to commend it over the older ‘one jot or one tittle’. This and the subsequent verses raise important questions about the permanence of the Law of Moses. It is obvious that a perfectly literal interpretation of our Lord’s words will not do, for he himself did break and change the law (see Mark 7.19 as well as the places where he relativized the law of the Sabbath). It is also obvious that we cannot tackle this issue in these notes.
19. will be called least in the kingdom: Slater notes: not shall be excluded from, but shall not attain the highest honour. See also Matt. 11.11

20-48: The Revision of the Old Law: 2) The Supersession

20. Bishop Gore notes: Then our Lord passes to the other side of the question. The old law was imperfect ; the new law is to supersede it. The new law is to supersede it both as it is represented in the actual standard of its professors, the scribes and Pharisees (v. 20), and then, more than that, it is to supersede it even in its actual principles (w. 21-48).

The Calendar

Sunday 6 February The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Monday 7 Feria
‘Great and Manifold: A Celebration of the Bible in English’ opens today at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. See http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/events-exhibits/current-exhibition for details

Tuesday 8 Feria

Wednesday 9 Commemoration of Hannah Grier Coome, Founder, SSJD, 1921
Hannah Grier Coome was born in Ontario but spent most of her married life in Britain. After her husband’s death in Chicago in 1878 Mrs Coome decided to try her vocation as an Anglican nun in England. While staying with family in Toronto on the way, she met a group of women who wished to found a community in Canada. Mrs Coome was trained as novice in the United States and in 1884 returned to Toronto where the Sisters of St John the Divine was begun. Mother Hannah was Superior until 1916. The Community is still active in our diocese. Please see http://www.ssjd.ca/ for further information.

Thursday 10 Feria

Friday 11 Feria

Saturday 12 Feria

Sunday 13 The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Lectionary Notes

Some Notes for Proper 4 in Year A
THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
30 JANUARY 2011

THE READINGS
MICAH 6:1-8
The LORD’s Lawsuit against Israel

From the superscription (1.1) it appears that the prophet Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah; like Isaiah and Hosea he prophesied at the time of the Assyrian threat against Israel and Judah in the late eighth century BC. Unlike Isaiah, who was of noble descent and a man of Jerusalem, Micah was born in the village of Moresheth in the foothills s-w of Jerusalem. The introduction to the NOAB suggests that for this reason he ‘looked on the corruptions and pretensions of the southern capital through different eyes’, and that this difference accounts for his prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem (3.9-12), something his contemporaries never did (see Jeremiah 26.18).
The sixth chapter of Micah contains a series of oracles directed against Israelites of all classes and opens with a dramatic lawsuit that brings the people to face the greatness of their sin.
1-2. Address. The Lord summons Israel to plead its case (see also Isaiah 3:13; Hosea 4:1-3; 12:2.); he is both accuser and judge; the whole of nature (mountains, hills, foundations of the earth) witness the action.
3-5: The Mighty Deeds of the LORD. This text has been used in Christian liturgy, especially on Good Friday. It resumes Israel’s confession of faith, such as Joshua 24.2-13. “Past events are recalled in order to bring the listener to repent” and properly consider “the promised faithfulness. The mighty deeds of God are recounted from the exodus … to the conquest and the entry into the land.” What more could the LORD have done? [NJBC]
For the story of Balak and Balaam son of Beor, see chapters 22-24 of Numbers. For Shittim see Numbers 25.1-5, 27.23 and 33.48-49, on Gilgal, see Joshua 5.2-12.
6-7: True Religion: the Question. The remembrance of these mighty acts of redemption evoke the questions: how shall I come before the LORD? That is, what is the religion expected of me? There are four questions here, one general, three specific building up to the climax of a terrible offering in the hope of wiping away great sin:
With what shall I come before the LORD ….?
Shall I come with burnt offerings ….?
Will the LORD be pleased with repeated offerings (thousands of rams) or streams of the oil used in worship and anointing?
Shall I give my firstborn?
The climax the abomination of the Canaanites (see Leviticus 20.2-3; Deuteronomy 12.31; Ezekiel 20.26) which the LORD has rejected (see 1 Kings 16.34; Jer 7.31, 19.5; cf Genesis 22, Exodus 11, 13). Such a dreadful question shows that the gravity of the sin is realized. But the Lord‘s answer is definitely negative: he demands inward conversion and a right spirit. This was called for by the law and all the prophets (see Isaiah 1.10-17; 7.9; 30.15; Amos 5.21-27; Hosea 2.19-20; 6.4-6; Jeremiah 6.16-20; 7.21-24).
8. True Religion: the Answer. So Micah says, He has told you : the right answer is to do justice. Kindness or mercy translates the Hebrew hesed, חֶסֶד, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, favour, among people or grace, as shown by God to people, also, human piety towards God. What the Lord demands is an expression of love in response to his love. It is all summed up in the image of walking humbly with your God. The themes here are also echoed in Christ’s Beatitudes.

PSALM 15
Domine quis habitabit?

It is thought that this psalm was used in the temple liturgy. It is a question, posed by worshippers (v. 1) and the answer of a temple minister, or perhaps a choir (vv 2-5). It serves in this Sunday’s liturgy as a reflection on the words of Micah: as true religion is to act justly and love kindness, so to be blameless and to do what is right is the requirement for true worship.
On the prohibition of interest (v. 5), see Exodus 22.25; Leviticus 25.35-37.

Epistle: 1 CORINTHIANS 1. 18-31
The power of the Cross

Last week’s passage from the first letter to the Corinthians ends with Paul’s assertion that God sent him to preach, not baptize. In this section he expounds on the contrast between the way of the Cross, which seems like foolishness to the world, but is God’s wisdom and power, and the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness before God.
In reading for this Sunday, take vv 27 and 28, But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, and compare those who are called ‘blessed’ in the Gospel reading. How the Gospel of God would turn the world upside down is we only embraced it with all our hearts!

THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST MATTHEW 5.1-12
Parallel: Luke 6.20-23

Chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew’s Gospel contain the Sermon on the Mount, the first of five major discourses in the Gospel. The Discourses are identified by NJBC as:
Chapters 5-7: Blessings, Entering the Kingdom
Chapter 10: Mission Discourse
Chapter 13 Parables of the Kingdom
Chapter 18: Communuity Discourse
Chapters 24-25: Woes; Coming of the Kingdom
Luke\s Gospel conatins a parallel discourse known as the Sermon on the Plain It is not necessary to think that this ‘sermon’ was delivered at one time as it stands in the text of the Gospel; a comparison shows that the Gospel according to Luke has used much of the material in different ways and at different points in the narrative.
The dominant themes of the Sermon are the kingdom of God and justice. It opens with the series of declarations ccalled the Beatitudes, from the opening words of each verse, in Latin Beati, ‘blessed’. Matthew’s Gospel gives eight beatitudes; in Luke four beatitudes are accompanied by four ‘woes’ (6.24-26). Our purposes do not require us to take a position on the relations between the two versions, or whether one is more authentic; it is enough to note that the questions exist and may be pursued in many good studies and commentaries. We hear in these verse as they stand in scripture the voice of our Lord showing us the character and condition of person that is blessed by God. They challenge us to examine our lives and character.
Verses 1 and 2 are a brief introduction. The mountain is not identified; from 1.23 we gather it is in Galilee. A gently-sloping hillside on the north shore of the sea, not far from Capernaum is pointed out as the site of the sermon; a chapel was built there in 1939. See http://www.bibleplaces.com/mtbeatitudes.htm

The mountain stands for Mt Sinai where the law was given to Moses; on this mountain the Law is restated. Although it seems from v.1 that only the disciples are with Jesus, at the end of the sermon (7.28) we hear of the ‘crowds’. We must remember that there were more ‘disciples’ than just the twelve.
3. Blessed (Gk makarios) has been rendered by ‘happy’ in some modern versions; and there are some senses of the word ‘happy’ that are appropriate here. However, at the root of the word ‘happy’ is the idea of chance or luck (‘hap’), which invites the objection that ‘happiness’ is an emotion often dependant on outward circumstances but ‘blessed’ refers to the well-being and joy which belongs to those who share in the kingdom. Furthermore, ‘blessed’ involves the idea of approval by God. Thus the poor and all the others are ‘blessed’ not because they are better than others but because of God’s speracial care for them. The poor in spirit: Luke simpy has the ‘poor’. At the time of Jesus the poor of the land were those who preferred divine service to any financial gain. By adding ‘in spirit’ the moral dimension of voluntary detachment from wealth comes into the picture. In truth everyone is poor, for no one has anything that is not from God, not even self; the blessed are the ones who know this.
4. Those who mourn; we think of mourners at a funeral, but the word is wider; it originally mean to be anxious, but came to mean to sorrow, grieve, lament. Here the major sense is sorrow for sin and for the trials and difficulties of this life.
5. The meek. See Psalm 37.11; the word means ‘slow to anger’, ‘gentle with others’. The earth; in both Hebrew and Greek the word can also mean ‘the land’.
6. For thirst as spiritual longing, see Psalm 42.2, Isa. Iv. i.
7. The merciful: Slater notes: lit. shall experience mercy not only now, but in the final triumph of the kingdom, Jas. 2. 13 (cf. Heb. 4. 16, ‘receive mercy’). Matthew frequently refers to mercy: 9.13, 12.7, 18. 33, 25.35. The higher righteousness which justifies forgiveness can only be attained by those who submit to be governed by this supreme law of the universe, i. e. love. This is taught in the parable of the ungrateful servant, 18.23 ; and in the Lord s Prayer, 6.12. Mercy characterizes the true High Priest, Heb. 2.17 ; its absence condemned the Pharisees, Matt. 23.23.
10. persecuted for righteousness’ sake, ‘The cause, not the pain, makes the martyr’ (Augustine). See 1 Peter 3.14, 4.14.
11. falsely, or, because they are speakers of falsehood.
12. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven is perhaps the most difficult saying in the whole passage. Christian joy abounds in adversity ; so the apostles sang in prison, Acts 16 25 : cf. Rom. 5.3.

Lectionay Notes

Some Notes for Proper 2 in Year A
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Between the Epiphany and the beginning of Lent we are in the first of two periods in the Calendar sometimes referred to as ‘Sundays of the Year’ or ‘Ordinary Time’. They are also known as Sundays after Epiphany and after Pentecost, but they are not seasons in the same way that Advent, Lent and Eastertide are, and it doubtful that referring to them as ‘Epiphanytide’ or Pentecost is correct. The number of Sundays ‘of the year’ depends on the date of Easter, as may be seen in the provisions in the lectionary on pages 348 to 360 of the BAS. In 2011, because Easter falls on April 24th, the second latest day it can fall, there are nine Sundays between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. The first of these is kept as the Feast of the Baptism of Christ; on the last the Transfiguration may be celebrated. Epiphany themes continue in the readings until the Second Sunday, but after that, they choice seems not to be thematic. In some cases the readings from the Hebrew Scriptures do complement the Gospel passages, but that still leaves us with two tracks of consecutive readings from the Epistles and the Gospels.
At this point another version of these Notes contained a chart showing the readings for the Sundays after Epiphany, but if it is not impossible to reproducen that here, it is too difficult, and we apologize if it makes the earlier comments any more difficuilt to understand.

The Readings of Proper 2
The First Reading: Isaiah 49.1-7

This is the second of Isaiah’s Servant Songs (please see last week’s notes). 1-3: The servant [Israel] speaks. He calls to the peoples far off—identified by the RCL notes as Israelites scattered around the Mediterranean, and declares himself to have been called by the Lord from before his birth. We meet this theme of the prophet called before birth in Jeremiah 1.5 (read recently on Proper 21 of Year C) and Galatians 1.5; note how in addressing the Church at Corinth Paul describes himself as ‘called to be an Apostle’. The Lord gave him power of speech (v. 2; see Ephesians 6.17; Hebrews 4.1) but hid him away, presumably for his protection.
The word ‘coastlands’ in v. 1 is also translated ‘isles’ it properly means habitable land as opposed to water; but note that it is coupled with ‘you peoples from far away’; this pairing is a device of Hebrew poetry and in fact the terms should be taken as synonyms.
In v. 3 the Servant is identified as a personification of Israel. This has been interpreted to mean that the servant is the faithful remnant of Israel whose task is to renew God’s people who have been crushed by the Babylonian exile, “to bring back Jacob to him” (v. 5), but even more to be ‘a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth’ (v. 6); Christians here understand the Servant to be a prophecy of Christ (see for example the Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2.29f.

Psalm 40.1-12
Exspectans exspectavi

Psalm 40 may originally have been two psalms (vv. 1-11, a thanksgiving, and 12-17, a lament) later joined together for use in worship. In verses 1-3 the Psalmist relates his experience: he was in some unspecified trouble, but the Lord saved him and gave him new hope and joy—a new song (vv.4-10). Better than a sacrifice of thanksgiving is to do God’s will (6-8, quoted in Hebrews 10.5-7). The section we use this week ends with a prayer for the Lord’s continuing favour (12).

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1.1-9

In all three years the Epistle readings for the Sundays after Epiphany are largely taken from the first letter to the Corinthians, so that it; the readings in Year A cover most of caps 1-4, those of Year B up to cap 11, those of Year C the rest. Since there are nine Sundays between the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday in 2011, all the passages appointed will in fact be read in order. Some passages not read on these Sundays are read in Lent, on Easter Day and on Pentecost
Corinth is a city in Greece about 78 km (48 mi) southwest of Athens. on the Isthmus of Corinth, which joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. It had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC; Julius Caesar refounded it in 44 BC. It was near the centre of the Roman province of Achaia and may have been its administrative capital. It was a cosmopolitan port city noted for its wealth, and for the luxurious, immoral and vicious habits of the people. Like most reputations, this one was much exaggerated; Jerome Murphy-O’Connor says in NJBC that ‘in terms of sexual morality, Corinth was no worse than any other Mediterranean port’. It had a large mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. St Paul himself preached the gospel and established the Church in Corinth (see Acts 18.1-11).
Two letters to the Church in Corinth are preserved in the New Testament, scholars suspect that there were more, and possibly that 2 Corinthians is made up of several letters.
The first letter to the Corinthians seems to have been occasioned by a letter from the Christians there bringing several problems to Paul’s attention (7.1) and by gossip brought to him by ‘Chloe’s people’ (1.11) which ‘revealed to Paul certain basic flaws in the Corinthians’ understanding of Christian community’. The readings in Year A are from the first section of the letter (1.1-4.21), which is concerned with divisions in the Community.
We will turn to the difficulties in Corinth in next week’s reading; Our passage today gives the Salutation (1-3) and opening Thanksgiving (4-9). As we have noted before, in his letters to the churches Paul expands the normal form of letter-writing of his day and adapts it as a vehicle for the Christian message
Note that Paul sends greetings to the church of God which is at Corinth, ‘together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2), a reminder to the Corinthians that they are not the only Christians. The universal church has an existence (is ‘realized’) in the local community; but no one should identify the local community as the universal Church; we are more than just members of St Columba and All Hallows—indeed that is not our real membership or allegiance. Sosthenes may be the ruler of the synagogue referred to in Acts 18.17.
Paul gives thanks in this passage for God’s gifts to the Corinthian church, a theme which somes to be of importance later in the letter.

The Holy Gospel According to St John 1.29-42

After the Prologue (1.1-18) St John`s Gospel begins with the witness of St John Baptist, who testifies to the authorities from Jerusalem why he baptizes, even though he does not claim to be the Messiah or Elijah or one of the prophets. He answers that he is the one crying in the wilderness ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’; and speaks of the mightier one to come (19-28; compare Mark 1.1-8 and parallels). After this follows today’s reading, which relates John’s witness of Jesus to his own disciples and their response, which is to follow Jesus. The passage has far more detail than we can comment on in these notes, but for a few very important points.
Part I (1.19-34): The Testimony of John.
The Baptism of Jesus is not described in the Fourth Gospel, but the words of John Baptist in verses 30-33 refer to it.
It is the next day, that is the day after the events related in 19-28. The narrative in John 1.19 to 2.1 covers a week, which has been described as ‘the first week of the new creation’ (see 1. 29, 35, 43; 2.1). John sees Jesus and declares: Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John knows that Jesus is God’s chosen because of what happened at the Baptism (32-33). It is worth noting that the Greek word for ‘know’ here is, as Temple put it, the word ‘which stands for knowledge of a truth—eidenai—not knowledge of a person— gnonai.’ John had known Jesus, but had not known this about him—that he was the Lamb of God. The image of the Lamb of God comes from many roots in the Old Testament, especially Isaiah 53.7. The Lamb is a familiar type of an offering to God, but it is more. In Genesis 22 we read of the ram that God provided as a sacrifice in place of Isaac, and indeed may note that Isaac`s question, `Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?` is the first mention of a lamb in scripture. The Lamb of God is the victim whom God provides. This lamb Himself takes the sin of the world. In the coming of Christ, God Himself is active; He not only accepts an offering made by human beings, be He provides (for indeed He himself is) the offering, and He Himself makes it. All that we have to do is to participate in this divine action, which is a bearing which has the effect of taking away the sin of the world. The word airon means both bearing and taking away, and there is no need to choose. By bearing it he removes it. Note that it is the sin of the world. Temple wrote:
How utterly modern is this conception! It is not ‘sins’, as by a natural early corruption of the text men were led to suppose, but ‘sin’. For there is only one sin, and it is characteristic of the whole world. It is the self-will which prefers `my`way to God`s —which puts `me` in the centre where only God is in place. It pervades the universe. … It becomes conscious, and thereby tenfold more virulent in man—a veritable Fall indeed. And no individual is responsible for it. It is an ‘infection of nature’ (Article IX among the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion), and we cannot cure it. We are not ‘responsible’ for it; but it sets us at enmity with God; it is the ‘sin of the world’.
This verse is set in Handel’s Messiah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nemuZ9N9ntA
32. I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. Where Mark (1.10-11) implies that only Jesus saw this, John makes it clear that the Baptist beheld the vision as well. We can do no more here than draw attention to the word ‘remained’, which is a favourite word in John’s Gospel (see 3.5, 34; 7.38-9; 20.22; see also Isaiah 52.1). In verse 38 the same word is translated as ‘stay’ in the disciples’ question, "Where are you staying?".

Part II (1.35-42): John, Andrew, and Peter.
The next day John again bears witness to Jesus; two of his disciples hear him and follow after Jesus.; One of the two is identified in v. 41 as Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother; the other, not named, is traditionally said to have been St John. Note that these disciples follow Jesus because of what they have heard John Baptist say; just so, most of us have come to be Christians because of the word of someone else. But because they are following him, he turns (38) and asks them what they are looking for. In this he ‘welcomes them and gives them the opportunity to come to know Him and form their own impressions’ (Temple). He says to them Come and see (39; this is better translated by Come and you will see), which is the only answer we can really give to one who seeks.
About four o’clock in the afternoon is literally ‘the tenth hour’ counted from dawn in the ancient manner, in which an hour was a twelfth part of the daytime. To be precise what o’clock it means would depend on the time of year, and a possibly better translation would be ‘about two hours before sunset’. The disciples remain with Jesus the rest of the day; then (was it the next day?—the text does not say so, but seems to imply it) Andrew went to find his brother Simon and bring him to Jesus; thus he became the first missionary. That is all we have time for this week.

Lectionary Notes

SOME NOTES FOR THE WEEK OF THE EPIPHANY
Sunday, 2 January AD 2011

Of course the first thing to do is to wish you all a Happy New Year!

The Epiphany or Manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated on January 6. Because of the importance of this feast both in itself and as the culmination of the festival of the Nativity, it is permitted to be kept on the Sunday preceding the 6th in place of the Second Sunday after Christmas Day. One might ask why this festival may be thus anticipated, since the usual way is to commemorate a feast on the Sunday following the day itself (as, for example, All Saints` Day—see the rubric on p. 427 of the BAS). The answer lies in the history of the feast.
Although the Western or Latin Churches keep the Epiphany as a commemoration of the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2.1-12), it is not so in the Eastern or Greek Church, where the feast originated. There, the primary theme was the Baptism of Christ, although it also commemorated his Nativity and other manifestations of his divinity such as the miracle at Cana of Galilee. Christmas developed as a feast of the Nativity in the Western Church and when the Epiphany was adopted there, a particular focus was placed in the magi, though other epiphanies are reflected in the liturgies.
In recent years, the Western Churches had wanted to mark the Lord`s baptism at Epiphany, as well. It is for this reason that we keep the Sunday after Epiphany as the Lord`s Baptism and when it is desired to celebrate the Epiphany with fitting solemnity, to do in on the Sunday before.
The Book of Common Prayer gives the feast a subtitle which explains the importance of commemorating the visit of the Magi: it is the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The meaning is expressed in a sermon preached by John Cosin on Epiphany 1621 at Cambridge:
“We are still at the feast of Christmas, and this is the last and great day of the feast, as St. John said of another. A feast of joy it has been all this while, but this day was given us that our joy might be full. They were tidings of joy that the Angels brought, a while since, to the shepherds, Jews, hard at hand; but when the glad tidings of the Gospel came abroad once to all the people, as this day they came so, then were they no more tidings of ordinary, but of great joy. 'Behold, I bring you tidings,' saith the Angel, but not to you alone; though to you, yet to others as well as you, 'which shall be to all people: Hitherto, then, it was Evangelizo vobis, vobis Judæis [I bring good tidings to you, to you Jews]. but to-day it was omni populo [to all people]; that now a Saviour was born unto us all, Which was Christ the Lord. And indeed this is our Christmas-day, that were Gentiles; for though Christ was born twelve days since in Jury [Judea], yet he came not abroad the world while now, and to us He seemed as yet unborn being but like a rich treasure in man's field, at this time not known to be so, till He was this day manifested unto us in the persons of these Wise Men, the first fruits of the Gentiles” [Sermon I, Cosin’s Works, volume 1; see http://anglicanhistory.org/lact/cosin1//sermon1.html].

Readings
Isaiah 60.1–6: The Glory of the New Zion

Isaiah 60.1-62.2 contains a series of songs on the glory of Jerusalem and of the Lord’s people which are reminiscent of chapters 40-55. 60.1-22 is a song of The Glory of the New Zion
1-3: Introduction. Zion (Jerusalem) is bidden to arise, shine and reflect the glory of the Lord (6.3, compare Ezekiel 1.4-28; 10.4), which will attract all nations (6.18). Note rising in verses 1 and 3, and compare the Gospel account of the magi.
v 2-3. For the setting in Messiah see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ79RQThn0g
4-5: Risen Zion welcomes her children home
6-7: Arabia`s riches are brought by camel caravan.
6. The people of Midian were the descendants of Midian, a son of Abraham by Keturah (see Genesis 25. 2) Ephah was a son of Midian (Gen 25.4). Moses` father-in-law was a priest of Midian (Exodus 2.15). These descendants of Abraham now participate in their patrimony, as some day all nations will become God`s children through faith (see Romans 4.17). This theme is found again in the Gospel account of visit of the magi with their gifts, representatives of the best of the Gentiles coming to worship the Christ. Sheba may be modern Yemen, Gold and frankincense: see the Gospel. The nations come to Zion, not only to receive instruction, as in Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3, but to rebuild and glorify the city.

Psalm 72.1–7, 10–14
Refrain All nations shall serve him.

In this prophecy of the future Davidic King, verses 10 and 11 have been seen as fulfilled in the visit of the magi, and had also influenced Christians’ understandings of that story.

The Epistle: Ephesians 3.1–12

The truth, that the gentiles are fellow-heirs with the Jews, was hidden from former generations, but has now been revealed to the apostles and prophets; and unworthy though he am, yet to Paul has been given the privilege of making it known, and of preaching Christ to the Gentiles. The Epiphany theme is found in verse 6.

The Holy Gospel: Matthew 2.1–12

As with Luke’s account of the Nativity, I recommend the commentary by Raymond Brown in The Birth of the Messiah for the account of the visit of the Magi in St Matthew. It is impossible to deal in any adequate way in these notes with important questions about the historicity of the passage or of the nature of the star.
The storhy is obviously influenced by the account in Numbers 22-24 of the prophet Balaam; see especially Numbers 24.17.
1. Wise men translates the Greek magoi, magi: in ancient literature this term referred to those engaged in occult arts and covered a wide range of astronomers, fortune tellers, priestly augurs, and magicians of varying plausibility. That Matthew describes them as interpreting the rising of a star suggests we should think of them as astrologers. They are Gentiles, representing the wisdom of natural learning, not of special revelation. The traditional number of three magi comes from the three gifts; John Cosin notes in another sermon that “for their number; there is an imperfect author, whom they have printed under St. Chrysostom's name, (but it is none of his, nor nothing like him,) who delivers it for a tradition in his time, though no man can yet tell whenever that time was, that they were twelve in number, and neither more nor less, to wait upon Christ's person, than there are now days to wait upon his nativity.” One wishes Cosin had given a footnote see http://anglicanhistory.org/lact/cosin/1/sermon21.html

From the east: that there is nothing in the text to show just where these Magi were from has not kept interpreters from making suggestions. Since there is no way to know for certain I will not discuss the point, on which you should refer to R. Brown. Cosin: “Not from the next door, or a town hard by, but à longe, even from far, even as the Ethiopian in the Acts (whom some think they sent afterwards) came from the ends of the earth to worship at Jerusalem. A hard journey sure they had, saith St. Chrysostom, for besides the long way old, there were huge mountains and horrid deserts, great floods and rivers to pass, wild beasts and (what is more) beastly and wild men to pass by. And yet by all these difficulties they came, even from the East to Jerusalem.”
2. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? Born king, that is already King at his birth, not to become king later. Slater in the Century Commentary, notes that “Herod had not been born king, nor indeed had one been born King of the Jews for six centuries.” We have seen his star at its rising. On the star itself, see Brown or some other good commentary; I find all the suggestions lacking. At its rising is to be preferred to in the East; the word anatolē means ‘rising’; it is from ‘rising of the sun’ that it comes to mean ‘East’. The reasons for preferring ‘rising’ here are due to the Greek idiom involved. What we are to understand is not necessarily that this was some wondrous bright object in the sky, but that these wise men saw a star rise at a point in the sky which by their art signified Israel or the land of Judah; “having seen the rise of the star which they associate with the King of the Jews, they have come to the capital city of the Jews for more information” [Brown]. There is also nothing in the text until v. 9 that suggests that the star moved. To pay him homage: better, to worship him; I have said before that I think ‘pay homage’ is too weak a translation, since it is at root a contractual relationship between a king or noble and his ‘man’ and not the abandonment of adoration; the Greek verb is principally used to mean fall down and worship, to do reverence.
3. Herod was frightened: Oh, dear, after complaining that homage was too weak I have to complain that frightened might be too strong, though as Slater notes, Herod had come to the throne by fraud and violence, and would dread a rival who might appeal to the superstitious multitude. Brown gives startled.
4. calling together …. translates a verb frequently used by Matthew in the Passion narrative to describe the assembling of Jesus’ enemies, especially the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, against him (26.3, 57; 27.17, 27,. 62) see also Psalm 2.2; chief priests includes the high priest in office, former high priests now deposed, and members of the families from which the high priests were chosen. Where the Messiah was to be born: note that the Magi had asked for ‘the King of the Jews’. The titles seem to be used interchangeably.
6. Their quotation combines Micah 5.1 (5.2 in the RSV) and 2 Samuel 5.2. There are differences between the Hebrew text and the version given here for which see Brown
7. when the star had appeared refers to the same event as 'in its rising' in v. 2, the year, month and day. Herod’s concern for the exact time is preparing us for his order of the slaughter of the innocents in 2.16.
8. Bring me word: The Greek verb means to report, announce, but does not make it clear whether the magi were to send word or bring the news themselves. 2.12 implies the latter.
9. … there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising seems unnecessarily convoluted; the word order in the original, as in RSV is ‘and lo, the star which they had seen in its rising went before them’. This is quite clear English. That a star might lead people is known in ancient literature; that it would lead them to a particular house is unusual. … over the place where the child was: literally, ‘over where the child was’.
11. going into the house. Although Luke does not say what building the manger was in, it appears that it was not a house. The two Gospel accounts cannot easily be harmonized; see Brown. Gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. It would be hard to improve on the hymn We Three Kings as a commentary on the meaning of the three gifts. However, a brief comment of G. K. Chesterton might inspire thought:
There were three things prefigured and promised by the gifts in the cave of Bethlehem concerning the Child who received them; that He should be crowned like a King: that He should be worshipped like a God; and that he should die like a man. And these things would sound like Eastern flattery, were it not for the third.

The Calendar

January 2011
Saturday 1 The Naming Of Jesus; New Year’s Day
Sunday 2 The Second Sunday after Christmas Day; The Epiphany is celebrated.
Monday 3 The Tenth Day of Christmas
The Memorial of Basil the Great, 379, and Gregory of Nazianzus, 389, Bishops and Teachers of the Faith, transferred from Sunday
Tuesday 4 The Eleventh Day of Christmas
Wednesday 5 The Twelfth Day of Christmas: Eve of the Epiphany
Thursday 6 The Epiphany of the Lord
Some reckonings, counting days after Christmas, make this the twelfth day. The idea that Christmas greenery must come down this day is modern; it may remain until Candlemas. It is likely unlucky to take it down before Epiphany
Friday 7 Feria
Saturday 8 Feria
Sunday 9 The First Sunday after Epiphany: The Baptism of Christ

Christmas Notes

BRONZINO, THE NATIVITY

SOME NOTES ON THE READINGS OF CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Midnight Mass

Our Book of Alternative Services provides proper prayers for celebrations of the Eucharist on Christmas Eve at Midnight, in the Early Morning and during the Day (pp 273-275). This triple celebration originated very early in the Roman church (see ‘The Three Masses in the article ‘Christmas’ in the Catholic Encyclopedia, at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm. Three sets of readings are provided, but not specifically set for any one of the three possible services. In the Roman Catholic rite, the first set is used at Midnight, the second at Dawn, the third during the Day, which suggests that the first set is the most appropriate for use at Midnight. The epistle and Gospel of the third set (from Hebrews 1 and John 1) are those appointed in the Book of Common Prayer.
This year we use the first set of readings at both the evening eucharist and the one at Midnight.
Some verse from these readings were famously set by Handel in his oratorio Messiah; links are provided to performances of these pieces on-line.

The Readings.
Isaiah 9.2-7: The Messianic King

According to NJBC this passage is to be date shortly after the crisis in Ahaz’ reign which we read about last week (7.10-16). In 8.23-9.7 Isaiah describes Immanuel, in whom the promise to the House of David was to be realized. NOAB says that the passage may have originally celebrated the accession of a Judean King, perhaps Hezekiah (c. 715-686 BC); in its present context it describes the coming of the Messiah as the ideal king.
The opening verses speak of the deliverance of the northern territories (Zebulun and Naphtali, which were later to be known as Galilee) which were the first to be subjugated by Assyria. These are ‘the people who walked in darkness’.
Handel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4T8rI4_Bqo&feature=related
In verse 3, the day of Midian refers to Judges 7, when God gave victory to Gideon over the Midianites who were oppressing Israel.
In its first use, verse 6 referred to the fact that the enthronement of a king was conceived as God’s adoption of the king as his son. While this may originally have referred to Hezekiah, he did not fulfill the hopes, and the prophet pushed his hopes into the later future. For Christians a deeper meaning of these words was revealed in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem.
Handel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqILJPv1JIY&feature=related

PSALM 96

A call to all nations to praise the Lord as the only God and to proclaim the glory of his reign throughout the world. This Psalm appears in a slightly altered form in 1 Chronicles 15.23-33. Compare this to Psalm 98; each is followed by a hymn celebrating the Lord’s reign. It appears that 97 has been linked with 96 and 99 with 98 to form a sequence of praise introduced by Psalm 95

1-3: Summons to worship
4-6: The Lord is the mighty creator; all other gods are nothing.
7-13: All nations and the physical; universe are summoned to join in his praise.
In the beauty of holiness (verse 9) is better rendered as in holy array; the word translated ‘beauty’ means ‘adornment, glory’.
The appropriateness of this psalm for Christmas is revealed in verses 12 and 13 (in the BAS; verse 13 in other versions, which speaks of the Lord’s coming to judge the earth. I sometimes wonder if the well-known hymn Joy to the World was meant to be a sort of response to the Psalm,

TITUS 2.11-14

Titus is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles but is quite frequently referred to in St Paul’s epistlers (in particular see 2 Corinthians and Galatians). The letter is an instruction for his work organizing and overseeing the church on the island of Crete (1.5). His relics are preserved in the Cathedral in Iraklion on that Island. This passage follows a longer one (2.1-10) which sets out the ‘behaviour that first sound doctrine’. As so often in Paul’s letters, the foundation for right living is a consideration and imitation of the example of Jesus Christ, ‘who gave himself for us to redeem us …’ (verse 14). Here the self-giving is not only his suffering and death on the Cross, but his coming to be born for us and live a human life. This passage should be compared to Philippians 2.1-11, which includes the great hymn of Christ, a passage that should be read carefully on Christmas and throughout Christmastide.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO LUKE 2.1-14(15-20)

This, as Linus Van Pelt tells us in A Charlie Brown Christmas, is the true meaning of Christmas. Indeed, the NJBC gives the whole passage the title ‘The Angels’ pronouncement about the Meaning of the Baby Jesus Lying in the Manger’. The passage has two main parts:
I (verses 1-7). The Birth of Jesus, Caesar Augustus having ordered a census of his empire, the first census being taken while Quirinius is holding office in Syria, everybody goes to his own city to be enrolled. Accordingly Joseph goes from Nazareth to Bethlehem, taking Mary with him. There she gives birth to a firstborn son, whom she lays in a manger, because there is no room for them in the inn.
II (verses 8-20). The Bethlehem shepherds. Shepherds watching their flock at night in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem are startled by seeing an angel and the light of God’s glory. The angel reassures them, saying he is a messenger of good news, and announcing that a Saviour, even the long-expected Christ, has been born in the city. They will find him in a manger. Suddenly the angel is surrounded with a heavenly host, singing of glory to God and peace on earth. After the vision has passed, the shepherds set off at once for Bethlehem and find the babe as described. They give an account of their vision, which occasions wonderment ; but Mary treasures these things in her heart. The shepherds return, glorifying God.
Some comments: 1. Caesar Augustus: Octavian, great-nephew of Julius, became the first Roman emperor; he reigned B.C. 31 to A. D. 14. His reign brought peace and stability to the whole Meduiterranean world, which was seen as providential by early Christians, since the Roman Peace enabled the Christian message to spread. But the Gospel contrasts this ruler who was hailed as the restorer of world peace with Jesus, the Saviour (2.11) and bringer of peace (2.14). The NRSV assumes ignorance and possibly stupidity on the part of the reader by giving Emperor Augustus in place of the correct reading. The title of Emperor was not used in that way then.
2. This was the first enrolment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. There are historical problems with Luke’s chronology: Quirinius was governor of Syria in ad 6-7 and not during the reign of Herod (see Luke 1.5), whole ruled 37-4 bc. Further, except for this passage there is no evidence for a world-wide census such as it describes. There have been several attempts to tidy up the problems, but the most realistic view is that Luke’s dating is confused. But as Adeney put it in his commentary on Luke, ‘even if it should be conceded that [Luke] was in error as to the census here described, that is not sufficient ground for discrediting his narrative of the birth of Jesus, as it only concerns one of the accessories. For further reading on this, and anything else about this census, see Brown, Birth of the Messiah.
4. Joseph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem: this might just be a covnentional way of speaking, but it is worth remembering that both Jerusalem and Bethlehem are on high ground, some 2,500 feet above the sea level. The Dead Sea, a mere 35 miles off, is 422 metres (1,385 ft) below sea level. The city of David: see 1 Samuel 16. Bethlehem means House of Bread.
7. Her firstborn son: scholars argue as to the implications of ‘firstborn’; it does not necessarily imply that there were others (see Exodus 13.2, 11-16), but we will cerainly not settle the question here. Manger: this word is from the French manger, to eat; it means a feeding-trough. The manger is important: Luke mentions it three times (2.7, 12, 16) Oddly enough the word crib originally meant a manger or a storage bin for fodder, and only came to mean ‘a child’s bed with barred sides’ because of the Nativity story. It is ultimately from a Germanic word Krippe, corn-crib, which by another route developed into the French crèche. For the familiar ox and ass of pageants and folklore, see Isaiah 1.3. No room … Brown says that ‘no place’ would be better because ‘no room’ implies ‘there was not a room’, which is not the same thing. … at the inn. Luke does not use the normal word that means inn, but a vaguer one (kataluma) that means a lodging. (We don’t have space to go into this; you really should read Brown.) Despite generations of retelling and Church-School Pageants, there is no mention of an inn-keeper (or his wife or family) in the text. For further information on what type of lodging Luke might mean, see Brown. What is more interesting is that the word kataluma appears one more time in the Gospel, at 22.11, when Jesus refers to the place where he will eat the Last Supper as a kataluma. The NJBC comments:

‘In order to create and underline the important and symbolic value he places on the thrice-mentioned manger, Luke says that there was no room at the inn. Although born in lowly circumstances and without hospitality. Jesus us the one who will be host to starving humanity. Fully grown and about to lay down his life as a servant, Jesus hosts in an inn (22.11) a meal that his disciples will continue in his memory.’

8. The Shepherds may remind us of David, who was raised from tending the sheep to become king and shepherd of the people (Psalm 78.72), but ‘in accord with Luke’s theme of poverty’, the shepherds are the poor and lowly. Keeping watch … by night: much ink has been spilled by scholars arguing about the time of year when shepherds would have been out in the fields all night. Since, as Brown puts it, ‘it is most unlikely that any reliable tradition about the exact date of birth would have survived’, there is little point in spending time on this point. Literally, ‘keeping the watches of the night’. They would watch by turns, with fires burning to scare wild beasts. So Brown, ‘taking turns watching over their flock by night’. This passage, ‘for popular piety, has fixed night as the time of Jesus’ birth’. That it was ‘Midnight was suggested by the application of Wisdom of Solomon 18.14-15 to the birth of Jesus: ‘When all things were in quiet silence, and the night in its swift course was half spent, Your all-powerful word leaped down from heaven’s royal throne’ [Brown].
Handel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEpSfusMx0&feature=related
9. An angel; not named unlike Gabriel in chapter 1; note that in v. 15 the shepherds say of the angel`s message that `the Lord` has made it known to them. And they were terrified; this is a very flat rendering of the original which is literally And they feared with a great fear; the RSV is better with and they were filled with fear; while the AV And they were sore afraid is old-fashioned but familiar and expressive.
10. Do not be afraid is again flatter and less urgent than Fear not! I am bringing you good news: better, I announce to you good news; the verb, which is related the the noun evangelion, Gospel, has a sense of preaching and proclaiming. (Browning’s poem ‘How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix’ might be considered in defense of ‘bringing’, but that is not about the announcing of the news as much as the swift journey.)
11. born today: Finally the hope of Isaiah 9.6 is fulfilled. God’s salvation is not in some distant future but is inaugurated now, today. This is a theme throughout the Gospel; see 4.21, 5.26, 12.28, 13.32, 33, 19.5, 6, 22.34, 61. A Saviour: Jesus, not Caesar Augustus. who is the Messiah, the Lord, literally, who is Christ Lord; Christ being the Greek for Messiah, the anointed one. This is the only time that these titles appear in the NT without the definite article.
12. The sign. The sign was in the conjunction of circumstances, a new-born babe, in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
13. The heavenly host, the Greek means ‘army’, which was also the original meaning of the English ‘host’; its wider sense of ‘a large number’ seems to date only from the early 17th century. A multitude of God’s army appear; this is by no means all.
14. Glory to God in the highest. This song of praised was used in the hymn Glory be to God on high which was originally only sung at the Christmas mass. And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. This difference from the traditional and peace on earth, goodwill towards men depends on the erading of the Greek text. Since Brown’s note on this phrase takes almost two pages, I may be forgiven for not going into it here.

Handel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2xWuIXb6rM&feature=related
The remainder of the passage is sufficiently clear as not to need a detailed commentary.

THE CALENDAR

Saturday 25 : The Nativity of our Lord, Christmas Day
The First Day of Christmas
Sunday 26 The First Sunday after Christmas Day
The Second Day of Christmas . The feast of St Stephen is transferred to December 30.
Monday 27 St John, Apostle and Evangelist
The Third Day of Christmas
Tuesday 28 The Holy Innocents
The Fourth Day of Christmas
Wednesday 29: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1170
The Fifth Day of Christmas
Thursday 30: St Stephen the Martyr
The Sixth Day of Christmas
Friday 31: John West, Missionary in the Red River District
The Seventh Day of Christmas
Saturday 1 January AD 2011: The Naming of Jesus. New Year’s Day
The Eighth Day of Christmas