ENTERING THE KINGDOM MAIMED, LAME, OR ONE-EYED

Part of Sunday's lection has been used to scare children. Many grew up being told to cut off or pluck out body parts that cause them to sin. For a lot of young people, this meant at least three things: don't look at what will cause you to sin; don't touch what will cause you to sin; and don't go anywhere that will cause you to sin.

Three things. First, the passage is not for children. Second, there is no word for "sin" in the passage. Modern translations use "stumble" or "stumbling block". Better alternatives would be "snare" or "trap." Third, I believe the passage is addressed to a specific group of people: predators.

The first section of the passage is Jesus's judgment directed to those who take advantage of children, those who set snares and traps to exploit the little ones in God's kingdom, those who use, abuse, and reuse the anawim. Compared to the judgment coming to them, it would be better for them if great millstones were hung around their necks and they were thrown into the sea.

Never, ever, forget: aside from pastors who pray, there are also pastors who prey.

The second portion of the passage is a challenge directed to those who might still be saved from being thrown into the sea or being thrown into Gehenna: where worms never die and the fire is never quenched. There is still hope as as long as they are prepared to enter life in the Kingdom of God maimed, lame, or one-eyed.

Many among us are not comfortable with an angry Jesus. Maybe we have been following the wrong Jesus.


*art, "The Angry Christ" (Alfonso Ossorio, 1916-1990).
+Ancient traditions say that children were offered as burnt sacrifices at Gehenna but recent archeological studies argue that it was used as a crematorium.

CHILDREN AND JESUS

Sunday’s lection is about welcoming children. To welcome a child is to welcome Jesus. Do we really welcome children?

25,000 children, aged 5 and younger, die every day from hunger. 10,000 die daily from diarrhea. Close to a billion people, mostly girls, cannot read or write. Up to 800,000 million women, mostly young girls, spend up to 20 hours a day looking for safe water. We all know the antidote for hunger. It’s food. The antidote for diarrhea? Safe water.

The United Nations and related organizations tell us that we need 666 billion dollars to address hunger, poverty, basic education, health care, food security, water, and sanitation worldwide. Tragically, the world would rather spend 2,400 billion dollars, just for 2023, on weapons of mass destruction than welcome children.

My dear friends, we need to repent. We have failed miserably. We need to ask God for forgiveness. We have forgotten what welcoming Jesus requires. We need to welcome widows, orphans, and strangers. We need to welcome those whose only hope is God. We need to welcome the nobodies. We need to welcome the unwelcomed.

We need to welcome children.

Because only then do we get to welcome Jesus.

*art, "Jesus welcomes the Children" (JESUS MAFA 1973, Cameroon), from the vanderbilt divinity library art collection. 

SATAN CARES FOR YOU

This week, I want us to imagine Satan. Many among us grew up with images of and ideas about Satan that do not come from the Bible. Pop Culture? Yes. Scripture? No.

In the book of Job, Satan is with other heavenly beings in the presence of God. In the book of Zechariah, there is a vision of God with Satan to God's right. In Mark, Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. He was not alone--he was with Satan. In 1 Chronicles 21, the anger of the LORD is described as Satan. In Numbers 22, the use of the Hebrew term "satan" actually means blocking one's way forward.

In Sunday's lection, Jesus calls Peter, Satan. Why? This is Peter, the leader of the disciples. Peter, whose house served as Jesus's home. Peter, the Rock. Satan? Why?

My friends, never, ever, forget this. Satan does not have horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. Many times in our lives, the adversary is not the enemy. Many times, the one who opposes our decision, our mission, our advocacy is a loved one. Family. Friends. Even a best friend. Like Peter.

Why, you ask? Because they love us. Because they think we are making a mistake. Because they want what they believe is best for our well-being. Because they do not want us to undergo great suffering, harassment, or red-tagging. Because they do not want us to be killed.

They behave like Peter.
 

*art, "Get Thee Behind Me Satan" by James Tissot (1836-1902), from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives.

IN MEMORIAM: DANIEL PATTE

The world of Biblical Studies will always identify Daniel Patte with Structural Exegesis, Scripture Criticism, and SEMEIA. Those of us who had the privilege of working with him know that he was a brilliant scholar, a prolific author, a highly-skilled editor, and an excellent professor. And he especially loved the books of Matthew and Romans. 

But Daniel was more than a teacher, a mentor, and a friend to me (and a lot of other students at Vanderbilt and elsewhere), he was also my PhD adviser. I served as his TA (for his NT Themes classes), his RA (when he was General Editor of SEMEIA), and webmaster (for the Religious Studies Department which he chaired).

Our family spent a lot of time at Daniel and Aline's home. The first meal we ever had when we arrived in Nashville was at the Pattes. Our last meal, five years later, as well. 

The couple were "parents" to me and Grace, and "grandparents" to our sons, Lukas and Ian. Time spent with them were precious moments. Lukas's first experience with a vintage rotary dial telephone was at the Pattes. We have baby pictures of Ian being carried by "Lolo" Daniel. (Ian, a few years ago, got to read his Lolo's book on Matthew and Structural Criticism.)

Three of my best students at UTS are structural exegetes. Daniel would be proud of them. 

Daniel was one of the only two people (the other being Grace) who believed, decades ago, that "Reading the Bible inside a Jeepney" will work as a hermeneutical method. 

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Rest in peace, my dear friend. You were God's gift to so many people. Thank you for believing in me. I will see you in the morning!

#danielpatte

THE LITTLE BITCH WHO TAUGHT JESUS A LESSON

 

Sunday's lection from Mark has a Syro-Phoenician (a Canaanite in Matthew) who comes to Jesus for help. Her little daughter was sick. She begged Jesus for healing. She was initially ignored. She was even treated like a dog (the Greek could be translated "little bitch"). Yet she persevered. And she persisted. And because she persevered, because she persisted, she got what she came for: her child was healed.

Robert Warrior, whose “Canaanites, Cowboys, and Indians” turned Hebrew Bible scholarship on its ear, notes that in the narrative, the “little bitch” does not become a follower of Jesus. She seeks him out because he has something she needs. She receives what she came for and walks away never to be mentioned again. She changes Jesus. Maybe she went back to her people and fought against the colonizing Romans in her own way with her own gods. The importance of her story is not whether she followed Jesus but that, without her, Jesus would have remained a narrow-minded bigot who viewed Indigenous People as dogs.

The little bitch who taught Jesus a lesson was alone in the text. But in front of the text, she is not. She is Filipina. She is Palestinian. She is Mexican. She is IP. She is Legion. She is transgressing borders. She is reclaiming what is hers. And she is fighting for her children’s lives and resisting empire her own way with her own gods.

And she continues to teach us.

**Prof. Daniel Patte, who passed away last September 2, urged me do the chapter on the "Little Bitch" in the 2003 book, The Gospel of Matthew: A Contextual Introduction for Group Study, we co-wrote with Justin Ukpong and Monya Stubbs.

*art, "The Canaanite Woman asks for healing for her daughter" by Bazzi Rahib, Ilyas Basim Khuri (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).