Epiphany 5 – February 6, 2011

            You can view this week’s Revised Common Lectionary texts here: http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=17 (if you right-click the link you can pull them up in a separate tab or window).

Isaiah 58:1-9a

            The OT reading continues the theme from last week’s Micah text, of what constitutes true religion.  This reading is from so-called “Third Isaiah,” the section of the book covering chapters 56-66, which appears to come from the period after the people’s return from exile in Babylon.  This was a time of some frustration for God’s people because, as Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch puts it, “at the end of what was supposed to be a triumphant return from exile, they were confronted with the ruins of Jerusalem.”  They didn’t understand why Israel’s glory days hadn’t come back when they returned to their promised land.  It’s like when you’re looking forward to some event, and you build it up in your mind, and then when it finally happens the reality isn’t at all what you imagined. 

            This week’s reading finds this prophet giving the people a little insight into the reasons for their disappointment.  The problem is not that they aren’t asking for God’s help – the problem is, that’s all they’re doing.  “Day after day they seek me…they ask of me righteous judgments.” (v. 2)  And they do so much fasting that God is over it: “Why do we fast but you do not see, why humble ourselves but you do not notice?” (v. 3)  The reason God is over their fasting is that all these religious observances are just self-serving; they spend so much time in the Temple that they’re completely ignoring the poor.  Verse 3b suggests to me a wealthier person saying, “Oh, I can’t work today because, you know, I’m fasting” – causing poorer people to have to work that much harder.  Verse 5 reminds me of Jesus’ words on fasting in Matthew 6:16.  Then in vs. 6-7, the prophet says that real fasting consists of serving the poor and bringing justice to the oppressed – real Matthew-25-sheep-and-goats sort of stuff.  In fact, it’s easy to see where Jesus got some of his best material.

            I think what the prophet’s getting at is that the returned exiles are focusing too much on renewing the Temple worship and not enough on practicing God’s justice; if they’d rebalance, they might see some of that old glory come back (vs. 8-9).

Matthew 5:13-20

            I notice that this week’s Gospel text segues nicely from last week’s.  At the end of the Beatitudes (vs. 11-12) Jesus addresses the disciples directly: “Blessed are you…”  Then v. 13 picks up with him saying, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world…”  The “you” here is plural: again, the Sermon on the Mount is aimed at forming Jesus’ disciples into a community characterized by certain practices.  He starts, 5:1-12, by reorienting how they see the world.  He then moves to describing their role in the world, and there’s a real edge, an urgency, to what he says.  “You are the salt of the earth” (v. 13): you’re to have a distinctive flavor about you to spice things up.  He asks a rhetorical question: if salt loses its flavor, how can you make it salty again?  The obvious answer is, you can’t!  You might as well just throw it away!  Point not to be missed by the disciples: So don’t lose your flavor.  “You are the light of the world” (v. 14): you’re to be visible to others and give them light.  Again, some rhetoric: nobody lights a lamp and then hides it – that would just be stupid!  You put a lamp up on a stand where it can light the place up.  This one comes with an explanatory note: “In the same way, let your light shine…”  But there’s also an unspoken corollary: So for God’s sake don’t put your light under a basket or you won’t do anybody any good.  I think this is hard for us – knowing exactly what it means to be “salt” and “light” in the world.  At what point does salty = obnoxious?  At the same time, when does “subtle” or “subversive” become just an excuse for bland and hidden?  I think the answer comes in the rest of the sermon, where Jesus describes the particular practices that are to characterize his community.  I think he’s saying that, if we’re behaving in these ways, if we’re living as if the meek are the ones who will inherit the earth, then we’re going to have a distinctive flavor in the world.

In verses 17-20 Jesus starts to explain what it looks like for his community to be “salt” and “light” in the world.  He begins, by way of explanation, telling them he hasn’t come to abolish the Law - a comment that may reflect accusations leveled at the Christians of Matthew’s day by the Jewish community at large.  Instead, he has come to “fulfill the Law,” and the “righteousness” of his followers – i.e. their practice – must “exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.”  (See post for 01/09/11 for discussion of “righteousness” in Matthew.)  Now, when I first read this I thought what Jesus meant by “exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” was that his disciples are to do the same stuff the scribes and Pharisees are doing, only better.  But a look at what comes next in the sermon tells us differently: starting in v. 21 is a series of sayings of the form “You have heard it said… but I say...” that runs through the rest of chapter 5.  In these sayings Jesus reinterprets the Law, taking its requirements further so that, for example, not just murder but anger is wrong, not just adultery but lust, etc.  He says (v. 46), if you only love those who love you, what’s distinctive about that?  (Hear: Bland!!)  Instead, try loving your enemies (Salty!).  In other words, what I think he means that he’s come to “fulfill the Law” is that he’s reinterpreting and taking it further, and by following his reinterpreted Law our righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.  Either way, it’s still a tall order.

Works Consulted:

Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch, Studying the Old Testament: A Companion

Fred Craddock’s commentary on the Gospel text in Preaching Through the Christian Year: Year A