The Working Class

Lenten Reflections: Jeremiah 3, John 5

I write this Lenten reflection from India, where I am meeting with a group from among the best of Indian theologians. I am consulting with them educational strategies to raise the next generation of world theologians to face the complexity of problems the two-thirds world is facing today. There has been so much oppression of “the poor, the widow and the orphan” in this ancient land. More than 75 % of the people are told that they are born to be enslaved. They are the low castes and the outcasts. They live and die in poverty and slavery.

The Lenten readings from the Bible- the Prophet Jeremiah, chapter 3, and the Gospel of John, chapter 5 deals squarely with this complex world situation. The prophet Jeremiah pronounces the word of God to a society which oppressed the poor and the marginalized people. God had saved and married a group of people, which he metaphorically describes as “God’s bride.” Yet, this bride forsook Him and began fooling with demeaning religions and ideologies. This had social, economic, and political consequences. The poor became poorer. Increasing number of people were enslaved. This also had environmental consequences. The “land became defiled.” (Jeremiah 3: 9)

In the John 5, Jesus encounters a crippled man during the Feast of Passover. It was a time which was supposed to remind people of God’s healing and salvation. Yet, Jesus encountered the consequences of precisely the things Jeremiah was talking about- suffering and disease, which the poor and the marginalized face. The crippled man was a paradigm of a socially, economically, and spiritually sick society. Jesus does the most powerful thing during Jeremiah’s days, during our days, during any days needs. He says, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

This is the power of Jesus’ healing that the society in India, and all over the world needs today. May God enable us to pronounce Jesus’ healing and resurrection words of power to a hurting world.

Rev. Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies

World Travels Lead Back to Luther and Ramabai

I have had a busy summer 2010. In May, I taught a course on World Religions at North Park University. In June I taught in Germany, a course on ancient texts called the Targums, in the language spoken during the time of Jesus, called the Aramaic. In July, I led a delegation of Covenant World Relief to see the work done in the slums of Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi, India. During my time in Germany and India, I had some of the most fascinating experiences related to the translation of the Bible.

In Germany, I taught every day except for Sundays. One Sunday, I decided to take the train to a place called Eisenach. This town was in former East Germany. In this town, there is a castle called the Wartburg Castle. In this castle, a crucial historical person by the name of Martin Luther hid for 10 months because his life was in danger. He lived there in a room under the disguise of Junker George. He grew his hair and his beard so that no one would recognize him.

Yet, during this time, he did not waste his time in despair. Instead, he got busy translating the New Testament from Greek into the language of the common people—German. He believed that the Bible alone had the power to transform society and give people true freedom. For this to happen, they had to read the Bible in their own common language. He considered this task to be so important that it took him 10 weeks to translate the New Testament into German. This New Testament is called the September Testament.

When I went to Wartburg Palace, the guide talked about all the other things that happened in the palace—how the princes and princesses ate, drank, and made merry. Finally, she said, “There is a room in this palace that was used by a person by the name of Martin Luther.” It is sad that people have forgotten the immense historical significance of the event, which took place in this room, in September 1521.

I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.

In India, I decided to stay after the delegation left for the USA. I took a trip to Kedgaon, in a state called Maharashtra. At this place, in the early 1900s, a woman by the name of Ramabai accomplished the same task that Martin Luther accomplished for Europe. She translated the whole Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the language of the common people in India.

Ramabai was raised in a high caste family. In a culture which disdained womanhood, she learned Sanskrit, the language of the high caste gurus. She then married a low caste person, much to the contempt of her high caste relatives. Her study of the state of women in Hindu society led her to a wide quest for solutions for women in India. She eventually found the solution in the person and work of Jesus. She came to the conclusion that if this Jesus could give freedom to the Samaritan woman, and other women in biblical times, he could do the same for women in India today.

Fueled by this realization and calling, she began rescuing girls from temple prostitution, and from child widowhood, and female infanticide. She opened a huge home for hundreds of girls that she rescued. Parents began bringing female babies to her doorstep, instead of killing them. Her work of the emancipation of female slaves of various kinds continues today at Ramabai Mukti Mission, Kedgaon, India.

Ramabai did not merely rescue these hundreds of girls. She educated them, and trained them to multiply the task she had begun. At Mukti, I was taken to a room where Ramabai translated the whole Bible into the low caste language Marathi. She trained the girls to help her translate and put the text into print.

I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.

It is people like Luther and Ramabai who have sacrificially made it possible for us to read God’s Word in our languages. They did this because they came to the realization that the words of the Bible have the transformative power to radically change society; to give hope and freedom to the poor, the enslaved, widows, and more.

May we also spend much time in prayer and meditation!

May we be blessed with Luthers and Ramabais for our time!

Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Chair, Department of Biblical and Theological Studies; and Director, Division of Christian Life and Thought

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 12

Readings: Genesis 11; Isaiah 11; Matt: 12:15-42; Acts 2:1-12

In the Christian calendar, this year May 23, 2010 was celebrated as Pentecost Sunday. It is the remembrance of the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the early disciples of Jesus. The narrative is found in Acts 2. In the Greek text, the words of Acts 2:1 are literally, “When the Day of Pentecost had come to its full fruition, they were all ‘at one in one’.”

There was a sense of oneness among the early disciples of Jesus, in spite of a seeming lostness of the past days. They had recently witnessed the horrible crucifixion of their Messiah and Lord. On the third day, they witnessed a remarkable event—the resurrection. Thereafter, for a period of 40 days, the risen Messiah appeared to them intermittently. Sometimes he would just appear to them in a room, while the doors were shut. At other times, he would appear to them while they were walking along the road.

Then, on the 40th day, he was taken up from their presence into the sky, while they looked up—quite dumbfounded. Now, it was the 50th day. It was the Day of Pentecost. It was a remembrance of the giving of the Torah to Moses in the wilderness. They somehow sensed that something was going to happen. They were “at one in one”–(the word “place” is not there in the Greek).  There was eager expectation.

In the Jewish liturgy, the Torah reading for the day focused on Genesis 11. It reminded them of the time when the languages of humanity were confused. However, it also reminded them of a period of time in the history of humanity which may be termed as an Ideational period. It was a time when globally people worshipped one God. This is borne out by archeology.

In the Indus Valley civilization, this God was called the Dyaus Pitr; in the ancient Chinese civilization, this God was called Shang-ti; and in Sumerian civilization, he was called AN. In all these texts, he is described as the Heavenly One, who is the creator and is holy.

Archeology further shows us that that later, somewhere between 2500 and 1500 BC, global society degenerates into polytheism. Genesis 11 describes this period. First, it describes the earlier Ideational period, a time when there was “One tongue and One Word” (Gen. 11:1, literal translation). However, after this time, humanity degenerates into Idealistic polytheistic religions. Human beings sought to build temples, to “make a name for themselves.” (Genesis 11:4). During this time, high-class priestly and kingly people developed high-class gods. Through these, “they made divine names for themselves,” which had to be worshipped by the low-class people. Historically, this era saw the development of many polytheistic religions across the world—religions which were used as tools to enslave thousands of low-class people. Polytheistic religion was thus a tool for injustice against the poor, low-class masses. The scattering and confusion of the Babel in Genesis 11 was to stem the intensity and tide of these unjust religions.

Unfortunately, the history of Israel as it is found in the Bible shows that the people of God who were themselves saved from the slavery of the high-class gods and priests of Egypt also succumbed to the injustice oriented practices found in ancient Near-Eastern societies. They worshipped pagan gods and goddesses, and this caused a chasm in society.

The widows and orphans of the poor were no longer cared for.  The rich people, who worshipped these gods and goddesses, like Baal and Ashtoreth, became richer, while the poor became poorer.  The prophets tell us that as a result of this, the people of Israel and Judah were also “dispersed” into different parts of the world.  They became the victims of slavery, which they themselves practiced.

Was there any hope left?

The prophets affirm that the only hope is found it the coming of a Messiah. This was the text, which was read on the Day of Pentecost. In Isaiah 11, the prophet Isaiah looks towards the time when the Messiah will come from “the root of Jesse,” i.e., from the family of David (Isaiah 11:1). He will bring about justice. “He will assemble the ‘outcastes’ of Israel and gather the ‘dispersed’ of Judah (Isaiah 11:12). There will be justice and reconciliation between those who suffered injustice and those who were the perpetrators of injustice.  The latter will confess their sins and injustices.

This expectation of the prophet Isaiah is fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus the Messiah.  In Matthew 12, the crowds follow him and the text says, “this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah…he will proclaim justice to the nations, the Gentiles…in his name the Gentiles will hope” (Matthew 12:18, 21). These are the same ethnos, Gentiles who are scattered on the face of the earth, in Genesis 11. Yet, they come looking for justice and salvation.

In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, what began in Genesis 11 comes full circle.  The narrative tells us that people are gathered from different parts of the then-known world in one place, Jerusalem. They witness an amazing event. Divided tongues of fire descended upon the early disciples, and they began speaking in all the languages of the dispersed people.  They spoke the one name through whom injustice would come to an end—the name of Jesus the Messiah (Acts 2:22).  The dispersed are gathered into one community—the community of the Church.

When I look at the modern Church today, sometimes I wonder: do we picture the dispersed and confused societies of the world, or do we picture the unity, salvation, and justice of the Acts 2 Church?

Boaz Johnson is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 11

Readings: Genesis 1; Genesis 50; Joshua 1; Malachi 4; Psalm 1; Matthew 28

The canonical journey through the Gospels ends in an amazing miracle—the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Matthew’s account—the Gospel in our series—begins with the narrative of Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary going to the sepulcher on “the first day of the week… And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow… the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen.” (Matthew 28:1-6).

The themes which are underlined in the Resurrection narrative of Jesus are quite clearly themes which are intentionally related to the beginning and the end of the Torah; the beginning and the end of the Prophets, the second section of the Hebrew Bible; and the beginning and end of the Hebrew Writings, the third section of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). In the interpretive study of the Bible, this is called biblical intertextuality.

The Gospels stress that Jesus rises on the “first day of the week.” This is the day when God began creation. He created the light (Genesis 1:1-4). This is a resurrection theme. Genesis 50 ends with the death of Jacob and Joseph. Yet there is a hope of resurrection. This hope is depicted in narration of Jacob being buried in the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 34 ends in the death of Moses, yet before he dies he sees the hope of resurrection in the Promised Land. Hebrew Prophets begins with Joshua 1, with a new resurrected community in the Promised Land. Malachi, the last prophet, ends with the hope of resurrection. A new Elijah would proclaim this resurrection (Malachi 4). The Hebrew Writings, the third section of the Hebrew Bible, begins with Psalm 1. It describes an ideal human being who is compared to an everlasting tree—a resurrection theme (Psalm 1:3). Hebrew Writings then ends with the hope for a new resurrected earth, where the land will “enjoy its Sabbaths.” (1 Chronicles 36:21).

It is clear from this brief overview that at crucial junctures, the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) looks forward to resurrection. The resurrection narrative of Jesus the Messiah, in the Gospels, stresses that all these aspirations in the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled in Jesus, the resurrected Messiah. Through him, there is the hope for a new resurrection for humanity and for all creation.

When Matthew describes the resurrection of Jesus, he intentionally stresses themes which are found in the Creation narrative of Genesis 1. Allow me to explain some of these themes, in the following section.

In Genesis 1, “on the first day”, the very first entity God created was “Light.” Themes of light also surround the resurrection narrative in Matthew 28. This is the distinct opposite ofthemes which surround the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Intertextually, these themes are related to the state of the universe before creation. Genesis 1:2 reads, “ The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Matthew notes that when Jesus was crucified, “there was darkness over all the earth (land) from noon till 3 PM. About 3 PM Jesus cried out the words of the Messianic Psalm 22, Eli Eli Lamah Sabachthani, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45, 46).

The themes that are stressed in the crucifixion and burial of Jesus bring the universe back to state of pre-creation. There is darkness. There is earthquake, and the like. Yet it should be mentioned that there is a note of hope, seen in Genesis 1:2—“the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.” These words suggest that despite the seeming hopelessness, there is the hope of creation. The crucifixion and burial narratives give the same sense of hope—something good will come out of this horrible de-creation. This hope finally materializes in resurrection, just as the foreboding darkness of pre-creation finally and distinctly results in creation.

Much can be written about the intertextual relationship. Let me stress one more theme. It is significant to note that the women were told by the messengers (angels) of God, “Go quickly, tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.” (Matthew 28:7). This is the crux of the message of resurrection. Jesus the Messiah’s resurrection initiates a new creation. He conquers death, which is the consequence of de-creation, and then initiates re-creation through his resurrection.

Why is it that it is women who are the first ones to proclaim this crucial resurrection message? May I suggest that it is because women have historically and internationally suffered the most awful consequences of de-creation and human fallenness.The first act of re-creation and resurrection is an amazing elevation of the status of women. They are told to proclaim the word of resurrection. It seems to me that this carries intentional intertextuality, with God proclaiming in Genesis 1, “Let there be light, and there was light . . . God called the light day.” The first “proclaimers” in the resurrection narrative are poor women who were ostracized by society: Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary. It seems clear that the resurrection narrative seeks to resurrect the status of women to what it was meant to be in the creation narrative. The Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah carries amazingly complex ramifications.

This canonical reading makes it very clear to me that the call of Christianity today is to be a Resurrection Community, a Re-creation community. In doing so, the Church is called to transform all aspects of de-creation in the world today into re-creation and resurrection.

May we live the message of resurrection: “He is risen from the dead.”

Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Chair, Department of Biblical and Theological Studies; and Director, Division of Christian Life and Thought

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 10

Genesis 50:22-26; Deut. 34:1-12; Malachi 4:4-6; Psalm 21; Matthew 17:1-13

One of the last major encounters with his disciples before Jesus enters into Jerusalem for the Holy Week is called the Transfiguration on the Mount. It is found in Matthew 17. Significantly, it happens six days after Peter, the spokesperson for the disciples, declares Jesus to be the Divine Messiah (Matthew 16:16). In this text, Jesus leads Peter, James, and his brother John to a high mountain. There Jesus is “transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him” (Matt. 17:2-3).  Why Moses and Elijah? What is the relationship between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah?
 
It is significant to observe that reference to Moses and Elijah is found as the grand finale of three sections of the Hebrew Bible¾the Torah, the Pentateuch; the Prophets; and the Writings. Moses, the great Law Giver, is the one who spoke with God “face to face;” thus he was given the Torah. The ending of the Torah declares, “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do” (Deut. 34:10-11). The rest of the Hebrew Bible—the Historical prophets and the Classical Prophets—is a quest for this “Mosaic Prophet.” Many prophets come and go. Yet, there is none like this special Prophet. The ending of the Prophets therefore declares, “Remember, the Torah of Moses . . . Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” (Malachi 4:5). Elijah, the prophet par excellence of this second section of the Hebrew Bible, it is anticipated, will come to prepare the way of this special Prophet.
 
Interestingly, the ending of Genesis, the last part of the Joseph narrative which we have been studying, also declares the same thing. Joseph declares, “God will visit (Hebrew, paqad) you.” (Genesis 50:25). God, indeed, does “visit” the people during special times, during the course of the history of God’s people. One of those dramatic points of visitation is depicted in the last part of the Hebrew Writings, the last chapter of 2 Chronicles. (We must note that Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew Bible). In this, a pagan king, Cyrus king of Persia, declares, “the LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged (literally, visited me, Hebrew, paqad) to build him a house in Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 36:23). God did indeed “visit” his people after Genesis, in the Exodus narrative. God also did “visit” his people during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. However, these “visitations” of God were nothing compared to this final visitation. In the light of these climactic texts, the Jewish people were anticipating a climactic “visitation, paqad” of God.
 
The Matthew account of transfiguration must be seen in the light of these crucial climactic passages of the Hebrew Bible. Significantly, while Peter was saying, “Let us build three shrines, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for you,” the other two—Moses and Elijah—disappeared. The narrative says, “They saw no one but Jesus only,” (Matt. 17:7), “and a voice from the cloud said, ‘this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him’” (Matt. 17:5). This is the final “visitation” of God, which both the Torah and the Prophets anticipated.
 
The final and complete “visitation” of God, the human face of God, the Messiah, in the following days, goes to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He celebrates Passover with his disciples, and declares himself to be the Passover Lamb. Then on Good Friday, this Passover Lamb was sacrificed on the Cross. This is not the end of the story, thankfully. On the Day of Firstfruits, or Day of Resurrection, he rises from the dead. He forever becomes the Transfigured One, the glorious “Visitation of God.”
 
May we have a visitation of God during this Holy Week.
 
Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Professor and Chair, Department of Biblical and Theological Studies; Director, Division of Christian Life and Thought

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 9

Genesis 37, 39-41; Psalm 18; Matthew 16

I have just returned from India, along with a group of 17 students and some Covenant pastors. We, along with an organization called Truthseekers, went to India to serve the poorest of poor people in the slums of North India. I am very proud of our students. Most university students in the USA would rather go to places like the beaches of Florida. But these students decided to spend their spring break serving the low caste people of India, who have been enslaved by the high caste people of India for hundreds of years. It is estimated that these people comprise 80% of the population of India. 

In New Delhi, we also visited the slum where I was born and reared. Unfortunately, the majority of the slum has been destroyed and the hundreds of people who lived in my slum have been evacuated to far flung areas outside Delhi, where they find themselves in deeper poverty, and prone to more enslavement.

This week was a life changing experience for my students. It seems to me that during spring break 2010, my students and I learnt in a profound way the meaning of the incarnation of Christ, and of Lent. God became human⎯the Word became flesh, to “come down” to the slums of humanity, to live and die on the Cross.

In this series of blogs, we have been making a canonical journey through the Bible. In the light of the season of Lent, in the next few blogs, I want to fast-forward to the last days of the life of Jesus, and the concomitant canonical readings from the Hebrew Bible. 

We begin with Matthew 16. Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Of course, people had all sorts of interpretations. Then Jesus asks them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter, the ever-ready one, responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is what I call a fulcrum text, a text around which the whole Gospel revolves. Once the disciples get this crucial lesson about the person of Jesus, the text says, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Matthew 16:21). This is the main purpose of the Incarnation of God. This ought to be the central focus of an incarnational people of God. The Hebrew Bible’s portrayal of God is precisely this. 

The Bible reveals to us the creator God, the Sovereign King of the universe. Yet we see this God reveal himself as the one who suffers with the poorest of poor, the lowliest of low people. We see this in Genesis 4, where God says to Cain, the murderer, “What have you done? The voice of your brother cries out (to me) from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10). The concomitant Torah reading from the life of Joseph shows the same theology of God. 

Joseph is sold into slavery. He “goes down” into Egypt (Genesis 37:25 ff; Genesis 39:1). On many occasions he was saved from being hung on the “tree,” as was the lot of one of the people, whose dream Joseph had interpreted (Gen 40:19, 22). Egypt is called the land of “his suffering,” (Gen. 41:52). Towards the later part of the Joseph narrative, God says to Jacob, “I am the God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to ‘go down’ to Egypt . . . I myself will ‘go down’ with you to Egypt” (Genesis 46:3, 4). The children of Israel suffer brutally under the hands of the cruel Pharaoh (Exodus 1). Yet God “goes down” and suffers with his people. He reveals himself to Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have ‘come down’ to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:8).

Throughout the Hebrew Bible, God is depicted as one who suffers for the weak and downtrodden. The final revelation of God is indeed seen in the last days of the life of Jesus the Messiah. God became incarnate, so that he might show the apex of suffering and die⎯indeed, die for the poorest of the poor.

It seems to me that just like Jesus, our students this week, in a very real way, experienced the suffering of the outcastes and the low castes in India. The sights, sounds, and images of suffering, I am certain are indelibly etched on their minds and hearts. In many senses, just like Jesus, our students learnt what it means to be an incarnational community during this season of Lent. 

See the entire online photo album of the trip to India.

–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 8

Reading 8: Genesis 11:1–9; Joshua 14:6–15; Joshua 24:14–28; Psalm 8; Matthew 5:1–11

In my last two blogs, I focused on two aspects of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry—His fasting in the wilderness, and his global vision. In the light of this season in the Christian calendar, the Season of Lent, I want to focus on another aspect of those readings.

It is good to note that the Gospels state clearly that Jesus fasted for 40 days. Why do the Gospels underline this? It is clear that they want us to see a relationship of “forty days” of fasting to a number of Old Testament texts.

Noah’s flood narrative underlines several times that there was a cleansing water which rained on the earth for “forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:4, 12, 17; 8:6). When Moses received the Ten Commandments, he fasted on the mountain for “forty days,” (Exodus 34:28; 24:18). The scouts, who entered into the Promised Land, remained there for “forty days” (Numbers 13:25). And if only the Exodus community had taken the lead set by Moses, they would not have had to be in the wilderness for “forty years” (Numbers 14:33). They, just like the people who built the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) revolted against the Lord, and as a result they had to remain outside the Promised Land. In contrast to them, “forty-year-old” Joshua and Caleb believed in the Lord, and so entered the Promised Land (Num. 13, 14; Joshua 14, and 24). As if to emphasize the cruciality of this, the prophetic section of the Bible further makes it clear that Elijah returned to the same place, where God have the Torah to Moses. He did so by fasting “forty days and forty nights” (1 Kings 19:8). It becomes clear from these core readings from the Bible that “forty days” of fasting, prayer, reflection, meditation, etc., is very important. It enables us to avoid the sins and pitfalls of the Exodus community and others who did not see the vision of God for the world. It will draw us closer to the vision of Christ for the world today. 

At the end of “forty days,” according to the Gospel of Luke (Luke 4:17–19), Jesus goes into the synagogue and recites from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah (61:1, 2), “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me (literally “Messiah-ed” me, or declared me to be the Messiah) to proclaim the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD.” This was Jesus’ mission statement for his life. It may be noted that according to ancient Jewish lectionaries, this was the text, which was read during the time of the Passover. It has also been suggested that this was Jesus’ Bar Mitzvah reading (Luke 2:41–42), which might suggest that Jesus would have been born during the time of Passover, the same time that he was crucified.
 
It is significant to note also, that just like Moses went up onto the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments at the end of “forty days,” so following the statement of his mission, Jesus goes up onto the mountain at the end of 40 days, to deliver the ten Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2–11). These words reflect the nature and life of Jesus Christ himself. The last Beatitude is quite climactic. Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12).

The Season of Lent urges us to be like Jesus. He was persecuted and finally crucified by the Romans. May we reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ mission and life, which he reiterated at the end of “forty days” of fasting, and live it ourselves. Then we will not be like the Exodus community or the Israelites during the time of Elijah. Rather, we will be like Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Elijah . . . and indeed like Jesus. 

–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies 

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 7

Genesis 10:1–32; Joshua 6; Psalm 7; Matthew 4:12–25
 
Many readers of the Bible usually overlook the Genesis 10 reading. It contains a whole list of names, which are hard to pronounce. What readers of the English Bible fail to realize is that these sections—which narrate the genealogy of the people—are very crucial. These are heavily underlined sections in the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Genesis consists of 10 toledot, or genealogies. (Genesis 2:4; 4:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1; and 37:2) Five of these deal with the genealogy of all human society and five deal with the genealogy of the Jewish people. The latter are a particular group of people, through whom the Messiah, the Savior of the world, comes. Genesis 10 is the genealogy of 70 nations. The number 70 is a symbolic number in biblical thought—it means all the nations and people groups in the world. The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of “Jesus the son of Abraham, the son of David, the Son of God.” Matthew shows that it is through Jesus Christ that all the nations of the world, whose beginnings are found in Genesis 10, will be ushered into the Kingdom of God. The Book of Revelation describes this in a crescendo, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9)
 
Between Genesis 10 and Revelation 7 (or Revelation 21) there are thousands of years of history. The intervening readings of the Bible help us negotiate these years. Joshua 6 describes one of the historical encounters where Joshua leads the freed people into Jericho. I am of the opinion that the people were not supposed to be going into the 70 nations with violence. They were supposed to be going into the nations with the gospel of this God who revealed Himself to them in the wilderness. The text says that the people were simply supposed to be going around the city of Jericho 7 times (the number 7 appears in this chapter 14, or 2x7 times). They were not supposed to be driving out the people, or destroying the people. But rather, they were supposed to be converting the people to YHWH, the Creator and Savior.

In the Hebrew language the word yarash is translated as both “possess” and “drive out or destroy.” In Joshua 1:15, the people are told to take “yarash”—possession—of the land. It is a reiteration of the promise made many times in the Torah. In Genesis 22:17, God promises Abraham that his descendants will “yarash,” (possess) the land. In Numbers 13:30, when the people are very discouraged by the 10 spies, and they do not want to enter into the promised land, Caleb says, “Let us go up and [yarash] possess the land, and the people.”

Elsewhere this same word, “yarash,” is translated to mean “drive out.” In Joshua 3:10, the translation reads, “he will without fail [yarash] drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Unfortunately, this gives the God of the Bible a very ferocious reputation. Sadly, in history, as in the days of Joshua, many people have taken the word yarash, to mean, “drive out or destroy.” It seems to me that the story of the salvation of Rahab makes it clear that people were not supposed to be driven out or destroyed, but rather to be missionally possessed—to be ushered into the Kingdom of God. 

Our Gospel reading makes it clear that this is Jesus’ way. He leads the way to this kind of missional yarash or possession in Matthew 4:12–25. He chooses 12 disciples, which symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel, who were supposed to give the gospel to the nations. He also chooses 70, who symbolized the totality of all the nations and people groups of the world (Luke 10:1). Jesus did not discriminate. He proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom, and cured every disease and every sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23). Great crowds of both Jews and Gentiles followed him.
 
This has been the mission of the church, and it ought to still be the mission of the church today until the time the “70 nations”—all of the people groups of the world—would be “possessed” or ushered into the kingdom of God.

–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies 

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 6

Bible Readings: Genesis 9; Joshua 5; Psalm 6; Matthew 4:1–11

The Torah reading, Genesis 9, contains some one the most misused text from the Bible. It is generally termed as Noah’s curse, or God’s curse on black people. The narrative describes Noah as a very fallible person—this after his acts of faith in the previous flood narrative. He gets drunk and goes into a state of nakedness. We must note that in Hebrew this is the same word that describes the serpent in Genesis 3:1, arum. This is more than a physical form of nakedness. This action should be seen as a reference to the “nakedness” ritual actions, which were practiced in Ancient Near Eastern religions. In the narrative, Ham, one of his sons “sees” his nakedness. This was another ritual act in ancient religions.

Noah’s response to his son’s ritual act is contained in Genesis 9:25–27, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may [God] dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

Unfortunately, in the Antebellum South, these words were interpreted as a divine curse on the black race. Theologians and pastors of the 19th century in the Antebellum South viewed the African people as the descendents of Ham, and because of Ham’s sin against his father, Noah, they concluded that the Hamitic race or the black race would be forever doomed to slavery.  

This, quite clearly is very bad exegesis of the text. One, the text is not talking about the black race. The children of Ham, the text makes clear, were the Canaanites, not the African people. Two, this is not a prediction of slavery, but rather, a description of the Canaanite religion, which had bizarre sexual elements attached to it. Three, the primary purpose of the passage is to describe the Messianic prophecy that God will incarnate through the descendents of Shem, i.e.: through the children of Israel. In Hebrew the text quoted above revolves around the phrase, “May He [meaning God] dwell in the tents of Shem.” In ancient Jewish thought this indicated the incarnation of the divine Messiah through the descendents of Shem, and more particularly, through the descendants of Abraham and David.

In Joshua 5, interestingly, the children of Israel had to face the kings of the Canaanites as they enter the Promised Land. Kings in Canaanite religion were the gods of the people, and this was considered to be a daunting task. However, just before they enter the Canaanite territory, Joshua encounters a man. Poignantly, Joshua hears the same words, which Moses heard when he encountered God in Exodus 3, “Take off you sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15). This was no ordinary human being. This was God himself, who would lead them into the Promised Land.

The  reading from the Gospels, Matthew 4:1–11, brings the above picture to a full circle. Jesus is the Incarnate One—God becoming man. He fulfills the prophecy of Genesis 9:25–27. He also fulfills the pictures of God seen in Exodus 3 and Joshua 5. We must note, in this narrative Jesus is thrice challenged by the devil on this very point. “If you are really the Son of God . . . turn these stones into bread . . . throw yourself down [from the pinnacle of the Temple]. . . fall down and worship me. “ Jesus, however, does not fall for the trap. He knew his identity as the Son of God—the Incarnate One. We may note that the words of the devil are depictions of the religious rituals of that time, which supposedly caused people to realize divinity. Jesus knew that he did not need to prove that he was God through these strange rituals. He is the Son of God.

It seems clear that in interpreting Genesis 9:25–27 to be the curse of God upon black people, the theologians of the Antebellum South did a grave injustice to the text of the Bible. This resulted in a tragic period of slavery in the antebellum period. This text is not about a curse against anyone. Rather, it is descriptive of Canaanite society and religion. More importantly, it is a prophecy about the God who becomes incarnate in Jesus the Messiah, through the family of Shem, Abraham, and David. This Jesus, in the New Testament, does not take the shortcuts offered by the religions of his time to prove that he is the Son of God. Instead, he dies on the cross, and rises from the dead. This is the ultimate proof that he is truly God. 

–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies 

A Canonical Journey through the Bible – Reading 5

Readings: Genesis 6:9–8:22; Joshua 4; Psalm 5; Matthew 3:13–17

I am writing this blog in the context of two very significant things. Today is January 18, 2010. North Park University is commemorating the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.—an amazing man of God, thinker and reformer. Today is also the sixth day after an earthquake hit a tiny nation called Haiti. It is estimated that the death toll could rise to over 200,000 people—men, women, and children. The images from Haiti are etched on my mind. It also clear to me that whenever there are natural disasters like this, it always impacts the poorest of poor in the most drastic ways. In Haiti, the rich, and the high-class people have been able to escape. They have been able to get the needed help. The poorest of poor are suffering the worst consequences of the earthquake. 

Why does this happen?

It seems like our text in the Canonical Bible Journey leads us towards an answer. To get a fuller biblical answer, I will need to write a commentary on the whole Bible.

Let me begin with the Gospel reading. Jesus is now about 30 years old. He arrives in Jordan from the enslaved territory of Galilee. In Galilee he has seen much suffering and injustice at the hands of the social, political, and religious elite. In contrast, Jordan is the place where the people first entered the land, as the early worshipping community was reminded in their recitation from Joshua 4. They were also reminded about another natural disaster in the recitation and singing of the Torah from Genesis 6–8. This happened right in the midst of human injustice—when women were enslaved as prostitutes (daughters of men), and the low-caste poor people were enslaved by the high-caste (sons of God, priests, and kings, according to Genesis 6:1–5). Right in the midst of injustice, violence and cruelty, the text says, “Noah was a just man, blameless in his time. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). He was the only one in his generation who cared about justice. 

The singing of Psalm 5 reminded the worshipper that this wickedness was not merely a thing of the past, which happened only during the time Noah. Rather, it happens in every generation. There is, therefore, a need for someone like Noah in every generation.
 
Unfortunately, history made it clear that people like Noah are few and far between. The grand finale of the canonical recitation, therefore, brought the worshipper in the early church, to the recitation of the life of Jesus. In this segment, Jesus goes through the water of the river Jordan. When John says to him, “You should not do this. This going under water thing is not for people like you.” Jesus says to him, “I must do this so that it becomes a potent paradigm of justice” (Matthew 3:15). 

Jesus’ baptism becomes a  real symbol of his death on behalf of all the people who suffer and die due to human sinfulness. This became a paradigm for Jesus’ life and death. Thankfully, the story does not end there. Jesus also rises from the dead, as is symbolized in his coming out of the water. The Voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son.” He is the resurrected one—much like Noah was the resurrected one for his generation.

In the context of Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Day, it seems the lesson for modern-day Christians is very clear. Modern-day Christians need to be ready to die to root out injustice. Martin Luther King learned this lesson well. He paid the ultimate price, just like his Savior, Jesus. The question before you and me is, “Am I ready to be like Jesus, in the context of situations of injustice, whether it be in Haiti, or Chicago?” Am I ready to die to myself—spiritually, emotionally, and physically in the context of modern-day injustice situations?

–Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies